IBM Study: Average Data Breach Cost in Saudi Arabia Reaches SAR 27 Million in 2026, One in Four Malicious Breaches Are AI-Enabled

IBM (NYSE: IBM) released its 2026 Cost of a Data Breach Report, revealing that the average cost of a data breach for organizations in Saudi Arabia reached SAR 27 million.

According to the study, organizations in Saudi Arabia faced the highest data breach costs when they struggled to prioritize threats, mismanaged secrets and keys, or lacked the cybersecurity skills needed to respond effectively. By contrast, a DevSecOps approach, endpoint detection and response tools, and encryption were identified as the leading factors associated with reducing breach costs.

Among malicious breaches, 25% were AI-enabled. Organizations with extensive use of AI and security automation recorded average breach costs of SAR 23.15 million, compared with SAR 32.08 million for organizations with no use of these capabilities. Despite the proven cost benefits, 25% of organizations reported no use of AI and security automation within their security operations.

Organizations in Saudi Arabia are increasingly investing after experiencing a data breach. According to the research, 62% said they plan to increase investments in security tools and governance. Among those planning additional investment, data loss prevention (60%) ranked as the highest priority, followed by incident response planning and testing (52%), hiring skilled cybersecurity specialists (41%), and both quantum security and cryptography management tools (36%).

Financial services organizations recorded the highest average breach cost in Saudi Arabia at SAR 38 million, followed by the industrial sector (SAR 35.4 million) and the technology sector (SAR 33 million). These findings highlight the growing financial impact of cyber incidents across industries that underpin the Kingdom’s digital economy and the potential for broader disruption across supply chains and essential services.

‘As organizations across Saudi Arabia accelerate AI adoption and digital transformation, cybersecurity must evolve at the same pace. While AI and automation are proving effective in reducing the financial impact of breaches, the findings highlight the importance of continuing to strengthen areas such as identity management, encryption, incident response capabilities and cyber resilience to stay ahead of evolving threats and support the Kingdom’s digital transformation ambitions,’ said Ayman AlRashed, Regional VP, IBM Saudi Arabia.

Other Key Findings:

Longer breach lifecycles increase costs. Organizations that took more than 200 days to identify and contain a breach experienced average breach costs of SAR 32 million, compared with SAR 22 million for organizations that identified and contained breaches in fewer than 200 days. On average, organizations in Saudi Arabia took 226 days to identify a breach and 59 days to contain it.

Encryption gaps. Core weaknesses in encryption and cryptographic management continue to expose organizations, even as investments in quantum-safe security grow. Only 37% of breached organizations reported encrypting sensitive data both at rest and in transit at the time of the breach, while 54% reported that they did not.

Public-facing applications remain the costliest attack vector. The most expensive attack vectors for Saudi organizations included exploiting public-facing applications (SAR 34.7 million), abusing valid accounts (SAR 33.3 million), and phishing attacks, including voice and SMS phishing (SAR 30.6 million).

Conducted by Ponemon Institute and sponsored and analyzed by IBM, the 2026 Cost of a Data Breach Report analyzed real-world data breaches experienced by 602 organizations globally, including organizations in Saudi Arabia, between March 2025 and February 2026.