Data breaches declined during Q3, still up for year

During the third quarter of 2021, total data breaches declined 9% in the U.S. compared with the quarter prior, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC).

“While the total number of data breaches dropped slightly in Q3, we are only 238 data breaches away from tying the all-time record for data compromises in a single year,” Eva Velasquez, president and CEO of the Identity Theft Resource Center, said in a release. “It’s also interesting to note that the 1,111 data breaches from cyberattacks so far this year exceed the total number of data compromises from all causes in 2020. Everyone needs to continue to practice good cyber-hygiene to protect themselves and their loved ones as these crimes continue to increase.”

While the overall number of incidents declined during the past quarter, the quantity of data-compromise victims during the period actually exceeded the total number of victims from the first two quarters combined.

However, this sharp rise in victims, a total of 160 million during Q3, was due to unsecured cloud databases and not data breaches, according to the center. Data exposure, which carries lower risks for identity theft or fraud, means personal information was accessible by unauthorized people but with no evidence to indicate the information was viewed, copied or removed from a database. The ITRC does not generally include data exposures as part of its definition of data breaches.

The total number of cyberattack-related data compromises is up 27% year-to-date compared with 2020. Phishing and similar attacks remain popular tools for cyber crooks in 2021, and occurrences of these attacks will likely surpass the number seen during the previous year, ITRC reported. Further, the 244 ransomware-related compromises reported so far this year have already surpassed the volume of similar events recorded in 2020 and 2019 combined.

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