The number of compromised data records in computer security breaches declined last year as thieves shifted their sights to smaller, non-financial businesses, according to a report by Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ).
The personal information of about 3.5 million Texans - including addresses and Social Security numbers - was mistakenly posted on public servers controlled by the state comptroller's office and remained there in some cases for more than a year.
Customers of TiVo Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Walgreen Co. and a number of other major brands were warned over the weekend that hackers may have their e-mail addresses and some other personal information, thanks to a massive data breach at Epsilon.
The cost of a data breach? $214 per compromised record and averaged $7.2 million per data breach event, says the Ponemon's U.S. Cost of a Data Breach report.
More than six million Americans have been affected by security breaches of their protected electronic health information since August 2009, according to a recent report. Sixty-one percent of the breaches are a result of "malicious intent."
Nigel Dews, chief executive of Vodafone, has confirmed the report of a security breach exposing personal information for millions of its customers. Reports state the database password had been compromised by an employee or dealer.