AI Cyberattack Statistics 2026

About one in four malicious data breaches in IBM's 2026 Cost of a Data Breach report were AI-enabled, a 56% jump from the year before, and those breaches cost an average of $6 million, about $1 million more than the $4.99 million global average. The FBI logged 22,364 AI-related complaints in 2025, with more than $893 million in reported losses. Deepfake impersonation was the most common AI-driven attack, at 45%.

AI-enabled data breaches

• About one in four malicious breaches studied in IBM's 2026 report were AI-enabled, a 56% increase over the prior year. (IBM / Ponemon Institute)
• AI-enabled breaches cost an average of $6 million, about $1 million more than the $4.99 million global average. (IBM / Ponemon Institute)
• The global average cost of a data breach rose 12% to a record $4.99 million. (IBM / Ponemon Institute)
• Deepfake impersonation was the most common type of AI-driven attack, accounting for 45% of them. (IBM / Ponemon Institute)
• AI-generated malware was behind 19% of AI-driven attacks. (IBM / Ponemon Institute)
• In IBM's 2025 report, 16% of breaches involved attackers using AI, most often for phishing or deepfake impersonation. (IBM / Ponemon Institute)
• Among 2025 breaches where attackers used AI, 37% involved AI-generated phishing and 35% involved deepfake impersonation. (IBM / Ponemon Institute)

AI phishing, deepfakes and social engineering

AI makes phishing far more convincing. In Microsoft's data, AI-automated phishing emails drew a 54% click-through rate, against 12% for standard phishing.

• AI-automated phishing emails achieved a 54% click-through rate versus 12% for standard phishing, a 4.5x increase. (Microsoft)
• In phishing simulations, voice and text (mobile-centric) lures had a median click success rate 40% higher than email. (Verizon)
• Identity-based attacks rose 32% in the first half of 2025, which Microsoft says may reflect AI-crafted social engineering lures. (Microsoft)
• Businesses reported more than $30 million in losses to business email compromise (BEC) scams involving AI. (FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center)
• Victims lost more than $19 million to confidence and romance scams with a likely AI connection, including voice-cloning 'distress' scams. (FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center)

FBI complaints and losses tied to AI

• The FBI's 2025 Internet Crime Report, the first with a dedicated AI section, logged 22,364 AI-related complaints. (FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center)
• Reported losses tied to AI-related complaints exceeded $893 million in 2025. (FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center)
• IC3 received 1,008,597 complaints in 2025 with $20.877 billion in reported losses, a 26% increase in losses from 2024. (FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center)

How attackers use AI

• Attacks by AI-enabled adversaries rose 89% year over year in 2025. (CrowdStrike)
• The median threat actor studied used AI assistance in 15 documented attack techniques; some used 40 or 50. (Verizon)
• Average cybercrime breakout time (initial access to lateral movement) fell to 29 minutes; the fastest was 27 seconds. (CrowdStrike)
• Adversaries injected malicious prompts into legitimate generative AI tools at more than 90 organizations. (CrowdStrike)

Shadow AI and attacks on AI systems

Employees' own AI use has become a major risk. 45% of employees now use AI regularly on corporate devices, up from 15% a year earlier, Verizon found.

• Security incidents involving shadow AI (unapproved AI use by workers) more than doubled, from 20% to 43%. (IBM / Ponemon Institute)
• Breaches involving shadow AI cost an average of $5.39 million, up from $4.63 million the year before. (IBM / Ponemon Institute)
• Organizations with high levels of shadow AI saw about $670,000 higher average breach costs than those with little or none. (IBM / Ponemon Institute)
• More than 20% of organizations reported a breach targeting AI models or applications, most often via compromised APIs, apps or plug-ins (27%) or cloud misconfigurations (27%). (IBM / Ponemon Institute)
• 97% of organizations that had an AI model or application breached lacked AI access controls. (IBM / Ponemon Institute)
• 45% of employees are now regular AI users (authorized or not) on corporate devices, up from 15% a year earlier. (Verizon)

What this means for cybersecurity careers

Defending against AI-driven attacks is now the top skills need in security. AI was the most-cited skill gap in ISC2's 2025 workforce study, named by 41% of professionals.

Compare cybersecurity bachelor's degrees, online cybersecurity master's programs and AI certifications, including ISACA's AI security credential.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

We use primary sources wherever they exist: government data, the original survey or report, and company filings. News coverage is used only when it reports a company's own statement. Survey figures describe the people surveyed, and forecasts are labeled as predictions.

• IBM / Ponemon Institute - Cost of a Data Breach Report 2026 (press release)
• FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) - 2025 Internet Crime Report
• IBM / Ponemon Institute - Cost of a Data Breach Report 2026: The AI tipping point
• CrowdStrike - 2026 Global Threat Report
• IBM / Ponemon Institute - Cost of a Data Breach Report 2025 (press release)
• IBM / Ponemon Institute - Cost of a Data Breach Report 2025 (full report PDF; copy hosted by Skadden)
• Microsoft - Digital Defense Report 2025
• Verizon - 2026 Data Breach Investigations Report (Executive Summary)
• CrowdStrike - 2026 Global Threat Report (press release)
• ISC2 - 2025 Cybersecurity Workforce Study (press release)