The bill remains high for Canadian companies that fall victim to cybercrime, but those that make use of artificial intelligence (AI) can manage to keep costs down, according to a report by computer company IBM.

Organizations in the country that were hit by a cyberattack between March 2023 and February 2024 paid an average of 6.32 million per data breach incident, according to figures released Tuesday by the US firm.

This is slightly lower than the previous two years, at 6.94 and 7.05 million, respectively. IBM associates this decline with corporate use of AI.

While this technology can benefit malicious individuals, it also has the power to speed up the work of identifying and containing a breach, thereby reducing its duration and costs, IBM’s analysis argues.

Two-thirds (61%) of Canadian companies are now using AI and automation. And those that have used these cybersecurity tools have seen beneficial effects, according to the report... . Source