More Than 20 Data Breaches Reported Per Day in First Half of 2019

More Than 20 Data Breaches Reported Per Day in First Half of 2019
But incidents involving SSNs, addresses, birth dates were smaller than in previous years.

If data breach reports evoke a sense of déjà vu these days, it's only because breaches have almost unfailingly kept increasing in number and becoming bigger in scope quarter after quarter, year in and year out. However, the raw numbers do not always tell the full story.


Risk Based Security's just-released data breach report for the first six months of this year reveals a total of 3,813 breaches were reported from January 1 through June 30—or on average, more than 20 of them each day.


Combined, the breaches exposed over 4.1 billion records containing Social Security numbers, bank account and payment card information, full names, birthdates, addresses, and other sensitive information. The total number of breaches in the first half of 2019 was 54% higher than during the same period last year, while the number of exposed records was 52% more than 2018.


The data shows that organizations still face too many blind spots in their security operations, says Inga Goddijn, executive vice president at Risk Based Security. "Clearly despite the increased spending, resources are still spread too thin and there are too many holes going unfilled."


While the broad breach numbers are consistent with patterns in almost every single quarter and six-month period for the past several years, Risk Based Security's data showed that some things might be changing.


For instance, fewer records were exposed in data breaches involving Social Security numbers, names, birth dates, and addresses—all critical components for identify theft—this year compared to two years ago.


Only 11% of the exposed records during the first half of 2019 were SSNs compared to 22% last year and 27% in 2017. Similarly, just 8% ..

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