During the third quarter of 2024, data breaches exposed more than *** million records worldwide. Since the first quarter of 2020, the highest number of data records were exposed in the first quarter of ***, more than *** million 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.

The average cyber attack takes 280 days to identify and contain and it costs an average of about $3.86 million to deal with properly.

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.

Data breaches cost companies and businesses a lot of money. The average cost of a data breach is $3.86 million.

Did the COVID-19 pandemic really affect cybersecurity? Short answer – Yes. Cybercrime is up 600% due to COVID-19.

These cybersecurity statistics will help you understand the state of online security and give you a better idea of what it takes to protect yourself.

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.

Between January and November 2023, California was the U.S. state with the highest number of reported data breach incidents targeting the government. In the measured period, the government agencies saw 16 cases of data breaches. Texas ranked second, with eight incidents. Overall, 137 cases of government data breaches were recorded in the United States.

Between May 2023 and April 2024, more than 81 percent of the reports about personal data security breaches were about unintentional incidents. Malicious activities and access abuse ranked second, with around four percent of the reported incidents, followed by eavesdropping or interception.

Some industries are affected by cyber attacks more than others. These next cybersecurity statistics detail specifically who is affected by cyber-attacks and why they are.

Over 95% of cybersecurity breaches occur as a result of human error.

Cloud Security Statistics: Cloud computing can bring many benefits to companies. However, they are also susceptible to being ruined because of the inability to ensure the proper security of information and privacy protections when using cloud computing. This in turn results in higher costs and potential losses to businesses. We will explore more details regarding Cloud Security Statistics in this report. Cloud adoption has risen dramatically over the last few years. Although many organizations were already in the cloud the COVID-19 outbreak has helped accelerate this transition. With the widespread use of remote work, organizations are required to provide support and essential services to their remote workforce. In the end, more than 90% of companies employ some form of cloud-based infrastructure. In addition, more than three-quarters (76 percent) are using multi-cloud deployments made up of at least two cloud service providers. These cloud environments host crucial applications for business and also protect sensitive customer and company information. With the shift to cloud computing comes an increased necessity to collect Cloud Security Statistics. Cloud-hosted applications need to be secured against attacks and cloud-hosted information must be secured against unauthorized access as per the applicable laws. Cloud environments are in a significant way from the on-prem infrastructure this means that the traditional security tools and methods don't always work when working in the cloud. In the end, many companies are confronted with major issues when it comes to securing their cloud-based infrastructure. Editor’s Choice 60% of global corporate data are stored on the cloud. 94% of businesses globally use one or more cloud computing services. It is estimated that the global Cloud Security Statistics market is projected to expand from $480 billion in 2022 to $2.297 trillion by 2032. With 32 percent, Amazon AWS owns the largest market share in cloud computing. 39% of businesses said they've been the victim of data breaches in their cloud environments. The amount of public money spent on cloud computing services is forecast to hit $597.3 billion by 2023. This will increase by 21.7 percent. 92% of companies have embraced a multi-cloud strategy. The market for cloud-based technology is predicted to reach $ 864 billion in 2025. It is expected to grow at an annual rate of 12.8 percent per year. Global storage of data will be greater than 200 Zettabytes of data by 2025. In 2025, more than 100 zettabytes of data are expected to remain in cloud storage. (Cloudwards) 89% of businesses have a multi-cloud strategy. (Flexera) 71 percent of Americans use cloud storage such as Dropbox as well as iCloud. (Statista) 48% of data from companies is stored in the cloud. (Panda Security) The market for cloud computing by 2020 is $371.4 billion. (Globe Newswire) Spending by end-users worldwide on public cloud services is expected to increase by 23.1 percent in 2021. (Gartner) With 83% of cloud users, security is the most frequent issue in cloud adoption. (Cloudwards) 52% of businesses want cloud-based solutions that include security tools. (Cloudwards)

Cybersecurity in Healthcare Statistics - Importance in Healthcare

• Only 36% of healthcare organizations have a comprehensive cybersecurity incident response plan.
• 80% of healthcare organizations plan to increase their cybersecurity budgets in the coming years.

(Source: HIMSS Cybersecurity Survey, Black Book Market Research)

Introduction

Identity and Access Management Statistics: Identity and Access Management (IAM) is vital for cybersecurity. Ensuring control over who can access a company's digital assets.

IAM confirms user identities, authorizes or restricts access, and oversees user accounts throughout their existence. It has gained significance due to rising digital complexities and security concerns, used across industries like finance, healthcare, and tech.

Cloud-based solutions and biometric authentication are increasingly common. IAM adheres to data protection rules and holds promise in the future with biometrics and AI-based access controls, safeguarding digital assets effectively.

In 2023, Russia ranked first in the world by data breach density. The number of breached e-mail accounts per thousand people in the country amounted to 542. The United States ranked second, with 285 user accounts, while Czechia followed, with 207 accounts. The data breach density in Denmark, Switzerland, and Italy was relatively lower.

Data breach density in the United States has significantly increased between the third quarter of 2022 and the third quarter of 2023. In the third quarter of 2022, the number of exposed data points per thousand individuals in the country was 26, while it went down to 24 in the third quarter of 2023.

In 2023, the healthcare industry in the United States remained the most targeted by cyber attacks, resulting in data compromises. Compared to 2022, the number of data compromise incidents in the U.S. healthcare industry increased more than twice. The financial services sector ranked second, with 744 data compromise incidents, representing a significant increase, too.