Jan 25 – According to a new report, the number of data breaches that affected the American public increased by 42% in 2022, as compared to the prior year’s numbers. The total number of people affected by data breaches climbed to 422.1 million by end-of-year.
More information
The number of publicly disclosed breaches that listed a direct cause of breach dropped last year. A category labeled “not specified” encompassed the largest number of attacks leading to data breaches, ahead of phishing and ransomware. A mere 34% of data breach notifications included details about who victims were and how the attack happened.
Protecting data
The Identity Theft Resource Center’s president and CEO, Eva Velasquez, says that when data breach notifications include only a minimum amount of data, consumers, businesses and government organizations are short-changed. Limited insights into a breach prevent everyone from taking appropriate action to secure remaining data and to reduce the possibility of negative breach impact.
“People are largely unable to protect themselves from the harmful effects of data compromises, fueling an epidemic – a ‘scamdemic’ – of identity fraud committed with compromised or stolen information,” explained Velasquez.
Data privacy resources
During data privacy week 2023, help spread awareness about online data privacy and security issues, and take measures to better manage and secure your organization’s data. Explore the following resources:
- How Executives Can Champion Data Privacy Week
- 10 Data Privacy Tips to Protect Your Organization This Year
- Eye-opening data privacy trends and statistics (2023 and beyond)
If your organization needs to revise or upgrade its security strategy, be sure to attend Check Point’s upcoming CPX 360 event. Register here.
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