Security News > 2022 > February > 2021 was the most prolific year on record for data breaches

Spirion released a guide which provides a detailed look at sensitive data breaches in 2021 derived from analysis conducted against the Identity Theft Resource Center database of publicly reported data breaches in the United States.

2021 was the most prolific year on record for data breaches, surpassing 2017's all-time high.

The most common data targeted during sensitive data breaches last year Social security number: 65% of all sensitive data incidents involved SSN. Personal health information: 41% of all sensitive data incidents.

In 2021 the average sensitive data breach had a lifecycle twice as long as non-sensitive data breaches.

From Aetna ACE's three data incidents to LinkedIn's two massive data leaks that affected 1.2 billion people, the emergence of this unsettling trend is a result of the increasing levels of remote work that is putting greater amounts of data at risk than ever before.

Under-reporting data breaches: Despite more organizations experiencing data compromises 34 percent of organizations and state agencies underreported data breaches last year by not reporting their data incidents on a timely basis or failing to include relevant details.

News URL

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/02/09/2021-sensitive-data-breaches/