Data Breach Incidents On The Rise Since January
The non-profit Identity Theft Resource Center released statistics on Monday showing that the group's data breach count has reached an all-time high. The total number of breaches recorded by the ITRC between Jan. 1 and June 27 was 342 -- more than 69 percent higher than the same time period in 2007. The actual number of breaches is probably larger due to underreporting and the fact that some reported incidents that affect multiple businesses are listed as a single event.
The ITRC breach report sub-divides and tracks all breaches into five categories. The following is a comparison of 2008 (as of June 27) with annual totals from 2007 and 2006.
• Business: 2008- 36.8 percent | 07- 28.9 percent | 06- 21 percent
• Educational: 2008- 21.3 percent | 07- 24.8 percent 06- 28 percent
• Govt/Military: 2008- 17.0 percent | 07- 24.6 percent | 06- 30 percent
• Health/Medical: 2008- 14.9 percent | 07- 14.6 percent | 06- 13 percent
• Banking, finance: 2008- 10 percent | 07- 7 percent | 06- 8 percent
Identity intelligence firm ID Analytics also cooperated with ITRC in its 2007 breach study and found that 39 percent of data exposures in 2007 were related to missing or stolen devices and said the “malicious intent” categories comprised 25 percent of the total data exposure events. ITRC believes that this indicates an increasing awareness by thieves of the monetary value of personal identifying information. Read ITRC's report here.
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