2015 Reported Data Breaches Surpasses All Previous Years

[Inga Goddijn <inga () riskbasedsecurity com>]

https://www.riskbasedsecurity.com/2016/02/2015-reported-data-breaches-surpasses-all-previous-years/

2015 Sets All Time High for the number of data breaches, according to Risk
Based Security

We are pleased to release our Data Breach QuickView report that shows 2015
broke the previous all-time record, set back in 2012, for the number of
reported data breach incidents.  The 3,930 incidents reported during 2015
exposed over 736 million records.

Although overshadowed by the more than one billion records exposed in the
two previous years, 2015 also ranks #3 in total reported exposed records.
 “When you analyze the data breach activity in 2015 it’s hard to find any
areas of improvement, said Barry Kouns, CEO of Risk Based Security.
“Forty-six data breaches in 2015 exceeded one million exposed records, and
that is a 24% increase over 2014. “

Risk Based Security’s newly released 2015 Data Breach QuickView report
<http://www.riskbasedsecurity.com/2015-data-breach-quickview/> shows that
77.7% of reported incidents were the result of external agents or activity
outside the organization with hacking accounting for 64.6% of incidents and
58.7% of exposed records. Incidents involving U.S. entities accounted for
40.5% of the incidents reported and 64.7% of the records exposed.

The Data Breach QuickView report also revealed that individuals’ email
addresses, passwords and user names were exposed in 38% of reported
incidents, with passwords taking the top spot at 49.9% of all 2015
breaches. This is especially troubling since a high percentage of users
pick a single password and use it on all their accounts both personal and
work related. “Another disturbing fact emerges when you analyze the 2015
data breaches”, added Kouns, “A staggering 142 organizations reported
multiple data breaches in 2015 alone, setting another dubious record.”

Risk Based Security’s research suggests that no industry or organization
size, is immune to attack and all should be on notice that they face a very
real threat from security breaches and need every advantage to protect
themselves. Timely, accurate and comprehensive threat intelligence can give
organizations the edge they need not to show up in the 2016 data breach
report.

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