According to sources from the cybersecurity industry, reports of data breaches in the US are decreasing so much in 2020 that they are at a lower level compared to the corresponding level in 2015, despite the fact that hundreds of millions of people and businesses have so far seen their sensitive and confidential data exposed this year.
The non-profit organization “Identity Theft Resource Center” (ITRC) records all breaches that have been published in the US in order to draw an accurate and clear conclusion.
Specifically, the organization stated yesterday in an update for the third quarter of 2020 that the volume of data breaches reported is 30% lower than the corresponding volume in 2019. In terms of individual victims, the figure is 60% lower, reaching 292 million.
However, the major data breach suffered by leading IT services provider Blackbaud may have slightly distorted the results, as the single security incident led to the loss of data for hundreds of the company’s customers. If this is seen as a series of events, the number of data breaches so far this year would have decreased by only 10% compared to 2019. Furthermore, the organization added that only a small number of Blackbaud’s breached customers (58 out of 247) have informed those affected. Currently, the number of people affected is around 7 million. However, the actual number of victims is estimated to be much higher.
Eva Velasquez, president and CEO of ITRC, stressed that if anyone receives notification related to the Blackbaud data breach, they should respond immediately as their sensitive and confidential information may have been exposed. Additionally, the non-profit organization reported that cyberattacks were the leading cause of data breaches in the third quarter of 2020, with phishing and ransomware being the most common types of attacks. However, if the Blackbaud breach is viewed as a series of incidents, then supply chain attacks would be at the top.
According to Infosecurity, a report released by Risk Based Security in August also noted a decline in the volume of reported data breaches. However, while the number of breaches decreased by 52% in the first half of 2020, the number of exposed files was estimated to be four times higher than in the past.
