Cost of a Data Breach 2025 – Part 2: Sectors, Data Security, Attack Vectors & Recovery

In the second part of my analysis of the IBM & Ponemon Institute report, I want to highlight the sectors, attack vectors, and breach lifecycle insights that stood out most.

🔹 Most vulnerable & costly sectors

Healthcare once again leads as the most expensive industry to be breached – with an average cost of $7.42M despite a decrease from 2024.

Financial ($5.56M) and Industrial ($5.0M) sectors follow closely. These three remain the prime targets because of the value of sensitive data they hold.

🔹 Where data is stored matters

Multi-environment breaches (hybrid setups across public cloud, private cloud & on-prem) were the costliest, averaging $5.05M.

On-premises breaches were the fastest to resolve (217 days) compared to multi-environment breaches (276 days).

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🔹 Initial attack vectors

Phishing is now the most common entry point (16%), costing on average $4.8M per incident.

Third party & supply chain compromise surged to second place (15%), almost as costly as malicious insiders– both around $4.9M.

These attack types also take the longest to detect and contain – with supply chain breaches averaging 267 days.

🔹 Breach lifecycle & containment

Faster detection saves money: breaches under 200 days averaged $3.87M, while those taking over 200 days rose to $5.01M.

Positive trend: the mean time to identify and contain dropped to 241 days, a nine-year low, largely due to AI-driven and automated defenses.

🔹 Recovery challenges

Even after containment, recovery takes time.

65% of organizations said they were still recovering from a breach, while only 35% had fully recovered.

Among those fully recovered, 76% needed more than 100 days – with a quarter taking over 150 days.

While breach costs are slightly decreasing, the supply chain, phishing, and insider risks are proving both costly and time-consuming to handle. Hybrid environments amplify complexity and cost, while quicker detection and response remain the strongest cost reducers.

Full report

Author: Sebastian Burgemejster