There were 1,244 reported data breaches in 2018, down from last year’s 1,632 according to the American Identity Theft Resource Centre’s (ITRC) 2018 End of Year Data Breach Report. Yet the number of exposed records containing personally identifiable information (PII) was up 126% to 446,515,334.
Among the key findings, the report also identifies the Business sector having had the highest number of breaches, yet the lowest rate of exposure per breach.
Source: Identity Theft Resource Centre’s 2018 End of Year Data Breach Report
Hacking was the most common form of data breach (39%), with employee error/negligence coming in second at 12%, exposing over 22million records.
The report urges consumers, organisations and governments to keep data security and privacy front of mind, as the debate of convenience versus security continues.
Take a look at the key findings below.
You can read the full report here.