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Data breaches increased throughout 2023
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With advancing technology, companies must always be prepared for the potential of a data breach. Threat actors often work nonstop while trying to gain access to sensitive company data, meaning security leaders need to work around the clock to keep themselves safe. Data breaches in 2023 were analyzed in a recent report by the Identity Theft Resource Center.
According to this report, U.S. data compromises surpassed 3,000 over the course of 2023. The total number of data breaches, exposures, leaks and “unspecified events” reached 3,205, impacting an estimated 353,027,892 victims, including those affected by multiple compromises. The 2023 compromises represent a 78% increase over the previous year and a 72% increase from the previous all-time high number of compromises set in 2021.
More than 9% of the U.S. publicly traded companies issued a data breach notice in 2023, according to the report. Public companies accounted for 40% of all data compromise victims. Publicly traded companies withheld information about an attack in 47% of notices compared to 46% of private companies, government agencies, education institutions and nonprofit organizations.
Physical breaches are down 65% since 2018. The estimated number of victims impacted represents a 16% decrease 2022, when more than half of the total annual victim count was related to three breaches announced late in the previous year. Three industries reported more than double the number of compromises compared to 2022: healthcare, financial services and transportation. Healthcare led all industries in terms of the number of reported compromises in each of the past five years, but utilities companies led in the estimated number of victims in 2023.
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