The data describes the recorded number of data breaches and records exposed in the U.S. between 2005 and the first half of 2018. In the last measured period, the number of data breaches in the U.S. amounted to 668 with over 22 million records exposed.
Data breaches and exposed records – additional information
Data breaches have gained attention with the increasing use of digital files and companies and users large reliance on digital data. Even though data breaches happened before digitalization of information – for instance, looking at one’s hard copy of medical files without authorization could be considered a data breach – the popularity of the digital platforms brought data breach to a new dimension as the volume and importance of the data exposed have considerably increased.
