The ITRC has released its H1 2023 Data Breach Report, showing the most data breaches in a quarter ever and a record pace for the year!

According to the H1 2023 Data Breach Report from the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) (available for download here), there were 951 publicly-reported data compromises in the Quarter, a 114 percent increase compared to the previous Quarter (445 compromises). It is the most breaches in a quarter ever tracked by the ITRC.

Through the first half of the year, the ITRC has tracked 1,393 compromises, higher than all the compromises reported in several recent years over the entire year. This puts 2023 on pace to set a record for the number of data compromises in a year, passing the all-time high of 1,862 compromises in 2021.

The number of victims in H1 (156,637,416) increased 153 percent compared to the first half of 2022 (62,019,351 victims). However, the number of victims disclosed in notices is well behind 2022’s pace. Notices in H1 2023 estimated that 156 million individuals were impacted by a data compromise compared to the 424 million people affected by data events in 2022. The number of data breaches with no actionable information about the root cause of the compromise grew to 534 in H1 2023 compared to 319 in H1 2022, a 67 percent increase.

To sum up, we’re seeing WAY more data breaches affecting WAY more people but have less information about the cause of these compromises. Yeesh!

Two other findings reported in the H1 2023 Data Breach Report:

• Every sector reported a higher number of data compromises in H1 2023 compared to the previous H1. Healthcare leads the sectors with the most compromises. However, Financial Services firms reported nearly double the number of compromises versus H1 2022.
• Phishing and ransomware were the primary attack vector for cyberattacks. However, the number of malware attacks in 2023 increased 89 percent over the same period last year.

The 6-page PDF H1 2023 Data Breach Report is chock-full of graphics and statistics, which makes it a very easy read. Check it out here!

So, what do you think? Are you surprised that ITRC is reporting the most data breaches in a quarter ever? Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

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