The largest reported data leakage as of January 2025 was the Cam4 data breach in March 2020, which exposed more than 10 billion data records. The second-largest data breach in history so far, the Yahoo data breach, occurred in 2013. The company initially reported about one billion exposed data records, but after an investigation, the company updated the number, revealing that three billion accounts were affected. The National Public Data Breach was announced in August 2024. The incident became public when personally identifiable information of individuals became available for sale on the dark web. Overall, the security professionals estimate the leakage of nearly three billion personal records. The next significant data leakage was the March 2018 security breach of India's national ID database, Aadhaar, with over 1.1 billion records exposed. This included biometric information such as identification numbers and fingerprint scans, which could be used to open bank accounts and receive financial aid, among other government services.

Cybercrime - the dark side of digitalization As the world continues its journey into the digital age, corporations and governments across the globe have been increasing their reliance on technology to collect, analyze and store personal data. This, in turn, has led to a rise in the number of cyber crimes, ranging from minor breaches to global-scale attacks impacting billions of users – such as in the case of Yahoo. Within the U.S. alone, 1802 cases of data compromise were reported in 2022. This was a marked increase from the 447 cases reported a decade prior. The high price of data protection As of 2022, the average cost of a single data breach across all industries worldwide stood at around 4.35 million U.S. dollars. This was found to be most costly in the healthcare sector, with each leak reported to have cost the affected party a hefty 10.1 million U.S. dollars. The financial segment followed closely behind. Here, each breach resulted in a loss of approximately 6 million U.S. dollars - 1.5 million more than the global average.

During the second quarter of 2025, data breaches exposed more than ** million records worldwide. Since the first quarter of 2020, the highest number of data records were exposed in the third quarter of ****, more than *** billion data sets. Data breaches remain among the biggest concerns of company leaders worldwide. The most common causes of sensitive information loss were operating system vulnerabilities on endpoint devices. Which industries see the most data breaches? Meanwhile, certain conditions make some industry sectors more prone to data breaches than others. According to the latest observations, the public administration experienced the highest number of data breaches between 2021 and 2022. The industry saw *** reported data breach incidents with confirmed data loss. The second were financial institutions, with *** data breach cases, followed by healthcare providers. Data breach cost Data breach incidents have various consequences, the most common impact being financial losses and business disruptions. As of 2023, the average data breach cost across businesses worldwide was **** million U.S. dollars. Meanwhile, a leaked data record cost about *** U.S. dollars. The United States saw the highest average breach cost globally, at **** million U.S. dollars.

In 2024, the number of data compromises in the United States stood at 3,158 cases. Meanwhile, over 1.35 billion individuals were affected in the same year by data compromises, including data breaches, leakage, and exposure. While these are three different events, they have one thing in common. As a result of all three incidents, the sensitive data is accessed by an unauthorized threat actor. Industries most vulnerable to data breaches Some industry sectors usually see more significant cases of private data violations than others. This is determined by the type and volume of the personal information organizations of these sectors store. In 2024 the financial services, healthcare, and professional services were the three industry sectors that recorded most data breaches. Overall, the number of healthcare data breaches in some industry sectors in the United States has gradually increased within the past few years. However, some sectors saw decrease. Largest data exposures worldwide In 2020, an adult streaming website, CAM4, experienced a leakage of nearly 11 billion records. This, by far, is the most extensive reported data leakage. This case, though, is unique because cyber security researchers found the vulnerability before the cyber criminals. The second-largest data breach is the Yahoo data breach, dating back to 2013. The company first reported about one billion exposed records, then later, in 2017, came up with an updated number of leaked records, which was three billion. In March 2018, the third biggest data breach happened, involving India’s national identification database Aadhaar. As a result of this incident, over 1.1 billion records were exposed.

In 2022, most healthcare data breaches in the United States happened as a result of hacking or IT-related incidents. The number of such cases was 555 in the examined year. The next-most common cause for data breaches was unauthorized access or disclosure, detected in 113 cases. Loss and theft of data were less common causes of data breaches in the U.S. healthcare system in 2022. Overall, in 2022, there were 707 data breaches of over 500 records in the U.S. healthcare industry.

The Cyber Security Breaches Survey, (CSBS) is run to understand organisations' approaches and attitudes to cyber security, and to understand their experience of cyber security breaches.. The aim of the survey is to support the Government by providing evidence that can inform policies which help to make Britain a safer place to do business online.

These surveys have been conducted annually since 2016 to understand the views of UK organisations on cyber security. Data are collected on topics including online use; attitudes of organisations to cyber security and awareness of Government initiatives; approaches to cyber security (including investment and processes); incidences and impact of a cyber security breach or attack; and how breaches are dealt with by the organisation. This information helps to inform Government policy towards organisations, including how best to target key messages to businesses and charities so that they are cyber secure (and so that the UK is the safest place in the world to do business online). The study is funded by the DCMS as part of the government's £2.6 billion National Cyber Strategy 2022 to protect and promote the UK in cyber space.

The underlying data are useful for researchers to better understand the response across a range of organisations and for wider comparability over time. The survey originally only covered businesses but was expanded to include charities from the 2018 survey onwards. From 2020, the survey includes a sample of education institutions (primary and secondary schools, further and higher education). Please note that the UK Data Service only holds datasets on each specific year from 2018 onwards.

Cyber Security Breaches Survey: Combined Dataset, 2016-2022 includes data from 2016 to 2022. This is cross-sectional data only and not all variables are included in all years. For longitudinal data, please access the Cyber Security Longitudinal Survey: Wave 1, 2021 (available from the UK Data Archive under SN 8969) and onwards.

Further information and additional publications can be found on the GOV.UK Cyber Security Breaches Survey webpage.

As of January 2025, the most significant data privacy violation fine worldwide was for social media giant Meta. In May 2023, the Data Protection Commission (DPC) of Ireland decided to fine the company with 1.2 billion euros or 1.3 billion U.S. dollars. The Chinese vehicle-for rent company Didi Global ranked second. In July 2022, China's data privacy regulator fined the company 8.026 billion Chinese yuan, or 1.19 billion U.S. dollars. The 2021 Amazon fine issued by Luxembourg's data privacy regulation authorities was 877 million U.S. dollars and was the third-biggest data breach fine as of the measured month. The 2019 fine of 575 million U.S. dollars to Equifax followed. In this incident, because of unpatched vulnerabilities, nearly 150 million people were affected, which caused the American consumer credit reporting agency to pay at least 575 million U.S. dollars.

The largest reported data leakage as of January 2025 was the Cam4 data breach in March 2020, which exposed more than 10 billion data records. The second-largest data breach in history so far, the Yahoo data breach, occurred in 2013. The company initially reported about one billion exposed data records, but after an investigation, the company updated the number, revealing that three billion accounts were affected. The National Public Data Breach was announced in August 2024. The incident became public when personally identifiable information of individuals became available for sale on the dark web. Overall, the security professionals estimate the leakage of nearly three billion personal records. The next significant data leakage was the March 2018 security breach of India's national ID database, Aadhaar, with over 1.1 billion records exposed. This included biometric information such as identification numbers and fingerprint scans, which could be used to open bank accounts and receive financial aid, among other government services.

Cybercrime - the dark side of digitalization As the world continues its journey into the digital age, corporations and governments across the globe have been increasing their reliance on technology to collect, analyze and store personal data. This, in turn, has led to a rise in the number of cyber crimes, ranging from minor breaches to global-scale attacks impacting billions of users – such as in the case of Yahoo. Within the U.S. alone, 1802 cases of data compromise were reported in 2022. This was a marked increase from the 447 cases reported a decade prior. The high price of data protection As of 2022, the average cost of a single data breach across all industries worldwide stood at around 4.35 million U.S. dollars. This was found to be most costly in the healthcare sector, with each leak reported to have cost the affected party a hefty 10.1 million U.S. dollars. The financial segment followed closely behind. Here, each breach resulted in a loss of approximately 6 million U.S. dollars - 1.5 million more than the global average.

View Data Breach Notification Reports, which include how many breaches are reported each year and the number of affected residents.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner. The Cyber Security Breaches Survey, (CSBS) is run to understand organisations' approaches and attitudes to cyber security, and to understand their experience of cyber security breaches.. The aim of the survey is to support the Government by providing evidence that can inform policies which help to make Britain a safer place to do business online.These surveys have been conducted annually since 2016 to understand the views of UK organisations on cyber security. Data are collected on topics including online use; attitudes of organisations to cyber security and awareness of Government initiatives; approaches to cyber security (including investment and processes); incidences and impact of a cyber security breach or attack; and how breaches are dealt with by the organisation. This information helps to inform Government policy towards organisations, including how best to target key messages to businesses and charities so that they are cyber secure (and so that the UK is the safest place in the world to do business online). The study is funded by the DCMS as part of the government's £2.6 billion National Cyber Strategy 2022 to protect and promote the UK in cyber space.The underlying data are useful for researchers to better understand the response across a range of organisations and for wider comparability over time. The survey originally only covered businesses but was expanded to include charities from the 2018 survey onwards. From 2020, the survey includes a sample of education institutions (primary and secondary schools, further and higher education). Please note that the UK Data Service only holds datasets on each specific year from 2018 onwards.Cyber Security Breaches Survey: Combined Dataset, 2016-2022 includes data from 2016 to 2022. This is cross-sectional data only and not all variables are included in all years. For longitudinal data, please access the Cyber Security Longitudinal Survey: Wave 1, 2021 (available from the UK Data Archive under SN 8969) and onwards.Further information and additional publications can be found on the GOV.UK Cyber Security Breaches Survey webpage. Main Topics: Views, experiences and behaviours of organisations (UK businesses and charities) on cyber security and cyber security breaches. Multi-stage stratified random sample

In the third quarter of 2022, approximately ** thousand data breaches happened in Hungary, which represented an increase compared to the preceding quarter. The number of data breach incidents peaked at nearly *** million in the first quarter of 2021.

In 2023, around 96.75 million e-mail accounts breached originated from the United States, making it the country with the most significant number of user account exposures in the examined year. Russia ranked second, with over 78 million accounts breached, while the France followed, with approximately 10.5 million breached accounts.

Data breach density In the United Kingdom (UK) has slightly decreased between the third quarter of 2022 and the third quarter of 2023. In the first measured quarter, the number of exposed data points per thousand individuals in the country reached 16.4, while it went down to six in the third quarter of 2023. Overall, breach density in the United Kingdom was relatively lower than in other worldwide markets.

Between November 2022 and October 2023, organizations in the education sector worldwide saw around 872 instances of data breaches caused by hacking. The professional industry ranked second, with 603 data breach cases in the measured period. Furthermore, hacking caused 598 data breach incidents in the finance sector.

Between November 2022 and October 2023, the education saw 860 data breach cases caused by system intrusion. Basic web application attacks resulted in 161 data breaches in the finance sector. Social engineering attacks caused 158 data breaches in the construction sector.

According to Cognitive Market Research the global cyber security market size was USD XX Million in 2024 and is set to achieve the market size of USD XX Million by the end of 2033 Growing at A CAGR of XX% from 2025-2033.

According to Cognitive Market Research Asia Pacific region cyber security market is experiencing significant growth driven by increasing digitalization and evolving cyber threats .it is projected to reach a substantial size by 2030. it is expected to generate revenue of XX%.

According to Cognitive Market Research North America is leading the cyber security market and is projected to grow at a CAGR of XX% over the period . 

Europe is expected to generate revenue of XX%.
Latin america expected to generate revenue of XX%.
Middle East and Africa expected to generate revenue of XX%.
South America expected to generate revenue of XX%.

Market Dynamics of

Cybersecurity Market

Key Drivers for Cybersecurity Market

Increasing Frequency and Complexity of Cyber Threats: The rising incidence of cyberattacks—including ransomware, phishing, and advanced persistent threats (APTs)—is driving organizations to make significant investments in cybersecurity. With critical data breaches impacting healthcare, finance, and government sectors, companies are prioritizing proactive threat detection, incident response, and threat intelligence solutions. This growing risk landscape is one of the primary factors motivating global cybersecurity expenditures. Extensive Digital Transformation and Cloud Adoption: The increase in digital operations, cloud migration, and remote work arrangements has expanded the attack surface for organizations. Cloud-native applications and hybrid environments necessitate strong cybersecurity frameworks, including identity access management (IAM), cloud security posture management (CSPM), and zero-trust models. This transformation is fueling the demand for scalable and integrated security solutions across various industries. Strict Data Privacy Regulations and Compliance Obligations: Governments and regulatory agencies around the world are implementing more stringent data protection laws such as GDPR (Europe), CCPA (California), and HIPAA (USA). These regulations mandate that businesses maintain data confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Failure to comply can lead to substantial penalties and damage to reputation, prompting organizations to implement comprehensive cybersecurity solutions and perform regular audits.

Key Drivers for Cybersecurity Market

High Expenses Associated with Deployment and Maintenance: Establishing enterprise-level cybersecurity frameworks—such as advanced firewalls, Security Information and Event Management (SIEM), and endpoint detection—demands a considerable financial outlay. Furthermore, the continuous expenses related to upkeep, software updates, and the need for skilled personnel render cybersecurity solutions a financial burden, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and startups, which may hinder their ability to penetrate the market. Deficiency of Qualified Cybersecurity Experts: The global shortage of talent in the cybersecurity field is increasingly pronounced, with the demand significantly exceeding the available supply. Organizations face challenges in sourcing qualified professionals for positions such as security analysts, ethical hackers, and Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs). This lack of skilled personnel can postpone cybersecurity initiatives, prolong response times to threats, and ultimately expose systems to vulnerabilities, despite substantial investments in security tools. Challenges of Integrating with Legacy Systems: Numerous enterprises maintain legacy IT systems that do not align with contemporary cybersecurity solutions. The process of incorporating new security measures into these outdated infrastructures can result in operational interruptions, performance delays, and security vulnerabilities. Such complexities frequently lead to postponed implementation or diminished effectiveness of cybersecurity strategies.

Key Drivers for Cybersecurity Market

Adoption of AI and Machine Learning in Threat Detection: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are revolutionizing the field of cybersecurity by facilitating real-time threat detection, behavioral analytics, and automated responses. These advanced technologies...

According to the majority of small business leaders surveyed for this study, most data breaches in Canada occurred as a result of malicious actors. At the same tine, ** percent of data breaches happened due to employee error in 2022.

The Cyber Security Longitudinal Survey (CSLS) helps us better understand cyber security policies and processes within medium and large businesses and high-income charities. It explores the links over time between these policies and processes and the likelihood and impact of a cyber incident. The survey is commissioned by The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and is part of the National Cyber Strategy. It aims to support the Government by providing evidence that can inform policies which help to make Britain a safer place to do business online. This is the second research year (or wave) of a three-year study and the data were collected over 2022.

The core objectives of the study are to:

• explore how and why UK organisations are changing their cyber security profile and how they implement, measure, and improve their cyber defences.

• provide a more in-depth picture of larger organisations, covering topics that are lightly covered in the Cyber Security Breaches Survey (available from the UK Data Archive under Generic Number 33549), such as corporate governance, supply chain risk management, internal and external reporting, cyber strategy, and cyber insurance.

• explore the effects of actions adopted by organisations to improve their cyber security on the likelihood and impact of a cyber incident.

Further information and additional publications can be found on the GOV.UK Cyber Security Longitudinal Survey pages.

Wave 1 data from the Cyber Security Longitudinal Survey can also be found on the UK Data Archive under Study Number 8969.

In 2023, over 353 million individuals were victimized by cyber data violations such as breaches, data exposures, and data leaks in the United States. This represents a decrease of 16 percent from 2022. Despite the decreased the number of data violation incidents from 2021, the detected incidents of data compromises impacted more individuals in recent years.