Technology

2016 Data Breaches Jump 25% Year Over Year

Paul Ausick

Published: May 2, 2016 12:45 pm

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 9:59 am

The latest count from the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) reports that there has been a total of 315 data breaches recorded through April 26, 2016, and that more than 11.34 million records have been exposed since the beginning of the year. The total number of reported breaches increased by 46 compared to the prior week.

The breaches reported last week were relatively small, with the largest accounting for just over 13,000 records. A fast-growing issue is ATM skimming, a data theft method that involves altering an ATM machine in a way that directs card and PIN data to the thief. According to Fair Isaac, the number of ATMs in the United States that have been compromised by data thieves is up 546% year over year in 2015, the highest level ever. Non-bank ATMs, such as those in convenience stores, have experienced 10 times as many compromises as in 2014.

The number of breaches in 2015 totaled 781, just 2 shy of the record 783 breaches that ITRC tracked in 2014. The 315 data breaches reported so far for 2016 are more than 25% higher than the number reported for the same period last year. A total of more than 169 million records were exposed in 2015.

Here’s a rundown of the ITRC report for last week:

• The government/military sector retained the lead in the number of records exposed in 2016. The sector has suffered 14 data breaches so far this year, representing about 45.4% of the total number of records exposed and 4.4% of the incidents. More than 5.1 million records have been compromised in the government/military sector to date in 2016.
• The medical/health care sector has posted 34.9% (110) of all data breaches to date this year. The number of records exposed in these breaches totaled more than 3.9 million, or about 34.6% of the total so far in 2016.
• The business sector accounts for more than 1.9 million exposed records in 149 incidents. That represents 47.3% of the incidents and 17.2% of the exposed records.
• The number of banking/credit/financial breaches totals nine for the year-to-date and involves nearly 5,000 records, some 2.9% of the total number of breaches and less than 0.1% of the records exposed.
• The educational sector has seen 33 data breaches in 2016. The sector accounts for 10.5% of all breaches for the year and more than 318,000 exposed records, about 2.8% of the total so far this year.

Since beginning to track data breaches in 2005, ITRC had counted 6,079 breaches through April 18, 2016, involving more than 862 million records.