2019 Sees Record Breaking 7.9 Billion Records Exposed in Data Breaches
The first nine months of 2019 expose 7.9 billion records across 5,183 reported breaches, marking a devastating year for cybersecurity. Common missteps like phishing, weak passwords, and poor employee training continue to drive these massive security failures.
The first nine months of 2019 see a staggering 5,183 reported data breaches that expose 7.9 billion records, making it potentially the worst year on record for cybersecurity. Compared to the same period in 2018, the total number of breaches jumps by 33.3% while the number of compromised records more than doubles with a 112% increase. Hacking remains the primary cause of these security incidents, while web-based attacks expose the highest volume of sensitive information.
Despite the unique nature of each cyberattack, most data breaches stem from a common set of avoidable security missteps. Organizations repeatedly fall victim to phishing schemes, fail to install critical software updates, and rely on weak username and password combinations. Additional failures include a lack of employee cybersecurity training, susceptibility to malware, and the accidental online publishing or uploading of secure records.
Facebook serves as a prominent example of these systemic issues after the social media giant allows three separate data breaches in 2019 alone. In April, security researchers discover that Facebook harvests email contacts from 1.5 million new users without their consent by asking for their email passwords during the sign-up process. Furthermore, the company admits to exposing the passwords of 540 million users by storing them in a readable, plaintext format on its internal servers.