Data breaches increasing – latest statistics
Unfortunately, the world we live in today does mean that data breaches are occurring and in fact, they are increasing. The latest statistics from US-based Identity Theft Resource Center (ITFC) were made available on February 21st, ITFC has tracked data breaches since 2005, and in 2017 there were a total of 1579 data breaches, an increase of 45%, with the largest total number of breaches highest for businesses and healthcare.*
On a positive note for healthcare from 2016 to 2017 number of breaches have decreased by approx 10%. However, the finance sectors breaches have grown by almost 4%. Now a percentage of the dramatic increase YOY could be attributed to better reporting, but the point does remain there is definitely an increasing problem with data breaches.*
Another critical point identified in the report is the change of the types of breaches.
Year over year hacking and unauthorized access are the 2 main categories of breaches which have had the most increase. Good news is the decrease due to employee error or negligence.
Businesses are seeing the largest increase in breaches. Breaches affect their brand, impact on their employees and customers. Because breaches will happen, as the statistics illustrate, businesses have to protect the data!
Click here to learn how Leonovus protects your data
*Facts for this article are from Identity Theft Resource Center, idtheftcenter.org
