Number of data breach victims up over 1,000 percent; this is not a typo!

Hello everyone, welcome to another blog post here on the blog.

I know that the blog posts have been scarce, but its not about quantity, its about quality, and this time, we’ve got a good one for you.

This comes from Malwarebytes, and is something that really should be studied.

With recent breaches, comes the risk that information will b put out, and we know this.

This is definitely something I think we should at least know, and Throwback Saturday Night has a copy of this article in their folder for airplay which could be played.

I wondered when I saw this in the newsletter whether that was a typo, but no, it wasn’t.

Nope, that headline’s not a typo. Over one thousand percent.

This makes this more important to read.

The ITRC is a national non-profit organization set up with the goal of minimizing the risk and mitigating the impact of identity compromise. Through public and private support, it provides no-cost victim assistance and consumer education.

That’s nice, but as I see it, my stuff is probably out there and I’ve not known anything about this organization. Its great that they provide education, hopefully they are of value to people.

The article also contributes the biggest latest breaches contribute to the spike of the numbers we’re seeing. They write:

The vast majority of that rise in numbers in due to a few very large compromises. The ITRC mentions Prudential (2.5 million people) and Infosys McCamish Systems (6 million people) as main contributors.

It continues:

Because both of these breaches were announced/updated in the second quarter of 2024 they have a huge impact on the numbers. When we compare the number of data breach victims in the first half of 2024 (H1 2024) then we see an increase of 490 percent compared to the first half of 2023. Which is still significant and worrying.

Here is information from the Infographic coming to us from Claud, through Picture Smart from Jaws, the screen reader I use to use the computer.

Claude
This image is an infographic titled “H1 Data Compromise Highlights” from the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC). It presents various statistics and information about data breaches and compromises in a visually organized manner on a pink background.

The infographic is divided into several sections:

1. Number of H1 Compromises: 1,571 total compromises affecting 1,007,470,089 total victims.

2. Breakdown of compromises:
– 1,391 data breaches (1,076,144,575 victims)
– 8 data exposures (138,600,775 victims)
– 0 data leaks (0 victims)
– 172 unknown compromises (186,914 victims)

3. Top Compromises by Industry in H1:
– Financial Services: 407 compromises
– Healthcare: 236 compromises
– Professional Services: 178 compromises
– Manufacturing: 151 compromises
– Education: 76 compromises

4. Top 5 Compromises by Victim Count in H1:
– Ticketmaster Entertainment, LLC: 460,000,000 victims
– Advance Auto Parts, Inc.: 380,000,000 victims
– Dell Technologies, Inc.: 41,000,000 victims
– LoanDepot, Inc.: 18,924,071 victims
– Kaiser Foundation Health Plan: 13,400,000 victims

5. H1 Attack Vectors:
– Cyberattacks: 1,226 breaches/exposures (1,049,007,357 victims)
– System and Human Errors: 155 breaches/exposures (14,218,023 victims)
– Physical Attacks: 18 breaches/exposures (1,573,815 victims)
– Supply Chain Attacks: 80 breaches/exposures affecting 446 entities (10,139,297 victims)

6. H1 Public Data Breach Notices:
– 1,027 notices without attack vector
– 544 notices with attack vector

The infographic uses various icons and color-coding to distinguish between different categories and make the information more visually appealing and easier

For those who want to compare, here is the info from Chat GPT from the same screen reader.

The image is an infographic titled “H1 Data Compromise Highlights” and appears to be from the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) for the year 2024. It provides multiple statistics regarding data compromises that occurred in the first half (H1) of the year.

Here are the key details:

### Total Compromises and Victims
– **Total Compromises:** 1,571
– **Total Victims:** 1,007,470,089

### Breakdown of Compromises
– **Data Breaches:** 1,391 (1,076,144,575 victims)
– **Data Exposures:** 8 (138,600 victims)
– **Data Leaks:** 0 (0 victims)
– **Unknown Compromises:** 172 (186,914 victims)

### Top Compromises by Industry
1. **Financial Services:** 407 Compromises
2. **Healthcare:** 236 Compromises
3. **Professional Services:** 178 Compromises
4. **Manufacturing:** 153 Compromises
5. **Education:** 76 Compromises

### Top 5 Compromises by Victim Count
1. **Ticketmaster Entertainment, LLC:** 360,000,000 victims
2. **Advance Auto Parts, Inc.:** 280,000,000 victims
3. **Dell Technologies, Inc.:** 49,000,000 victims
4. **LoanDepot, Inc.:** 19,924,071 victims
5. **Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc.:** 13,400,000 victims

### H1 Attack Vectors (Methods of Attack)
– **Cyberattacks:** 1,226 breaches, 1,062,007,337 victims
– **System and Human Errors:** 155 breaches/exposures, 14,218,023 victims
– **Physical Attacks:** 18 breaches/exposures, 57,815 victims
– **Supply Chain Attacks:** 10 breaches/exposures, 466 entities affected, 10,138,297 victims

### Public Data Breach Notices
– **Notices Without Attack Vector:** 1,027
– **Notices With Attack Vector:** 544

The layout of the infographic uses a combination of text and iconography to present the information in a visually engaging manner, with different sections segmented by categories and punctuated with icons for clarity. The background is predominantly purple, with circular elements housing significant numerical data.

What are the most interesting stats taken out of this?

• Almost 90% of the compromises in H1 2024 are due to data breaches.
• Financial services had the most breaches, followed by healthcare.
• The largest data breaches in number of victims are Ticketmaster, Advance Auto Parts, and Dell.
• 80 supply chain attacks accounted for 446 affected entities and over 10 million victims.

While driver’s licenses are now part of breaches, companies are using them more for verification than the SSN which is good in one way, but not in another. If you can’t protect it from getting pilfered whether its your fault or not, we’re screwed.

Most of the data breaches are not the result of negligence but of targeted cyberattacks. This explains the rising demand for data deletion services. Not only does it play a significant role in safeguarding privacy rights on the business side, it also helps avoid or lessen the legal consequences of a breach.

Malwarebytes goes in to details on how you can protect yourself including: changing your passwords by using one that is hard to guess, checking the advice of the vendor as each breeach is unique, enabling some sort of two factor, not storing credit card data with the merchant, signing up identity protection, and take your time with what’s being presented to you.

This article has lots more, bbut these are the highlights. Please be as safe as possible, and check out this article. You might thank me later.

Number of data breach victims goes up 1,000% is the article. Enjoy this one!