Breaches Left 140 Million Records Vulnerable This Year
By Katie Wike, contributing writer
Since the beginning of the year, nearly 150,000 records were compromised as a result of data breaches.
According to an Identity Theft Resource Center report, 533 data breaches have left more than 140 million records exposed so far in 2015. The report notes that, on the bright side, the numbers are about the same as last year indicating that while the breach problem is far from solved, the situation is not getting any worse.
Fierce Content Management reports the total number of breaches was divided into categories:
- business: 39.8 percent
- medical/healthcare: 34.7 percent
- banking/credit/financial: 9.6 percent
- educational: 8.4 percent
- government/military: 7.5 percent
These events don’t just compromise data, they cost money too. According to the 2015 Cost of a Data Breach Study: Global Analysis from IBM and the Ponemon Institute, “The average total cost of a data breach for the participating companies increased 23 percent over the past two years to $3.79 million.”
Security Intelligence reports the average cost paid for each lost or stolen record containing sensitive and confidential information increased 6 percent (from $145 in 2014 to $154 in 2015). The lowest cost per lost or stolen record is in the transportation industry ($121) and the public sector ($68). The retail industry’s average cost increased dramatically (from $105 last year to $165).
“Data protection is fundamentally a business challenge in addition to being an IT challenge. With the influx of new threats and the changes in regulatory requirements, an organization’s security needs are continually evolving,” explains Larry Ponemon, Chairman and Founder, Ponemon Institute. “Enterprises need to be prepared and employ world-class services that address threats across each aspect of their business so they can build a strong security posture that reduces costs, improves service and manages risk.”