Data breaches worldwide - Statistics & Facts

In the first quarter of 2023, 6.41 million data records were leaked in worldwide data breaches, impacting millions of individuals. Data breaches are security incidents that expose confidential and sensitive information to unauthorized parties. Unlike popular opinion, data breaches happen not only via the internet but also through Bluetooth and text messages. These incidents impact individuals, organizations, and government entities.

How do data breaches happen?

In individual cases, data breaches may be caused by someone’s devices getting lost, infected with malware, or personal data becoming available to unauthorized parties in any other way. Organizations experience data breach incidents in various scenarios. For example, threat actors attack the company with the intent of stealing sensitive information. The second-most frequently encountered scenario is an unintentional error by an insider. The next common case is when a malicious insider accesses confidential and sensitive information. Data breaches can also happen because of lost or stolen assets. For example, theft or loss of a company device that contains confidential and sensitive information.

How do data breaches affect companies?

The loss of sensitive information can cost companies millions of dollars each year. One leaked data record cost 165 U.S. dollars on average in 2023. Meanwhile, the average cost of a data breach incident across companies worldwide is 4.45 million U.S. dollars. This includes detection, business losses, post-breach response, and notification. Among these, the detection and escalation of the data breach was the costliest segment.

What kind of data gets breached more frequently?

Threat actors usually try to target the most sensitive information. In 2023, more than 52 percent of all data breach incidents in global organizations involved customer personal identifiable information (PII), thus making it the most frequently breached type of data. Roughly four in ten data breaches involved employee personal identifiable information. Furthermore, 76 percent of social engineering attacks resulted in the loss of credentials, with financial and insurance companies encountering the highest share of breached credentials.

Which industries are most targeted by data breaches?

Data breach incidents most frequently target financial and healthcare institutions. The reason for this is straightforward as banks and insurance companies store a huge amount of sensitive data and financial resources, and healthcare institutions have a critical mission while also collecting sensitive information.

Can data breaches lead to legal proceedings?

When a data breach incident is reported, the data privacy watchdogs immediately start investigating the case. If they find evidence that the company violated the privacy regulations, they issue a corresponding fine.

How can data breaches be prevented?

Organizations can combat data breaches by training employees, patching vulnerabilities on time, providing the best encryption for data, and implementing multi-factor authentication. Constant work on developing necessary security tools, systems, and processes might help in risk assessment and mitigation.

This text provides general information. Statista assumes no liability for the information given being complete or correct. Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date data than referenced in the text.

Quarterly number of breached user accounts worldwide: 4.62m

Country with the highest number of breached accounts: Russia

The biggest data breach of all time: Cam4 Data Breach (Mar 2020)

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Data breaches

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Data breach density

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Cost of a data breach

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Common types of compromised data

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Impacted industries

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User behavior and awareness

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Awareness at organizations

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