Nearly six million people in the U.S. were impacted by data breaches in August, according to a report by IT Governance USA. There were 92 new data breaches affecting 5,984,639 individuals, the data showed, with the potential of many more being affected due to the size of the targets. The three largest data breaches from August were: |

• National Public Data suffered a data breach impacting 1.3 million people — but as many as 2.9 billion records might be affected after the lawsuit asserted they were put up for sale by a criminal group.
• Software provider Young Consulting notified the attorney general of a data breach affecting 954,177 individuals. The notice didn't give much detail about the nature of the security incident, except that an "unauthorized actor" gained access and that other data owners were affected, including health insurance provider Blue Shield.
• Patelco Credit Union suffered a ransomware attack affecting 726,000 people. The company notified the attorney general on August 20. Patelco first detected the breach in June but did not identify the threat actor. The RansomHub gang claimed responsibility on August 16, and has allegedly published the stolen data after negotiations failed.

Meanwhile, more than half of U.S. companies have filed a cyber-claim in 2024, with 62% filing a claim during the last 12 months and more than 27% filing multiple claims. The slideshow above illustrates the industries impacted most by data breaches as selected by Verizon Business. See also: |

• Cyber risk, staffing challenges squeeze healthcare sector
• How insurance AI improves trust, accuracy and personalization
• AI's untapped potential in front-end insurance processes