A new report shows that the number of data breaches in the U.S. during 2022 was lower than 2021’s record total, but still close. That suggests a relative normalization of the number of data attacks at this high level. Moreover, while the overall number of breaches was lower year-on-year, the number of Americans targeted spiked by 42%.
The Identity Theft Resource Center has published its 2022 Data Breach Report. It shows there were 1,802 data breaches during 2022, just 60 compromises short of 2021’s record-breaking total.
However, it could have been better as the year’s first half went well, with much fewer breaches during the same period in 2021. The Identity Theft Resource Center suggests this may have been because of the tumbling cryptocurrency market and the war in Ukraine.
Even so, breaches picked up again through the second half of the year. That suggests record levels of breaches happened during the second half of 2022 as the year as a whole almost caught up to 2021 by the end.
More People
The report signals data breaches as the most common compromise, although there were other data attacks on a smaller scale. While there were fewer overall data compromises, the ones that did happen affected more people than in 2021.
In fact, the number of people affected by a data attack increased by 42% to 422.1 million last year. A big chunk of this was because of a Twitter breach that happened in December, resulting in the information of 221 million users leaking online.
Eva Velasquez, the ITRC’s president and CEO, notes that organizations are increasingly unequipped to defend themselves from data attacks.
“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,” Velasquez says.
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