"Data Privacy Week: US Data Breaches Surge, 2023 Sees 78% Increase in Compromises"
According to the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), the number of reported data compromises in the US in 2023 increased by 78% compared to 2022, reaching 3205. The number of victims of these data breaches reached 353,027,892. The ITRC noted that while this is still a staggering number, it represents a 16% decrease compared with 2022. The ITRC believes that the general trend of the number of victims dropping is because organized identity criminals now focus on specific information and identity-related fraud and scams rather than mass attacks. The ITRC also found that publicly traded companies withheld information about an attack in 47% of notices compared to 46% of other organizations. Healthcare, Financial Services, and Transportation reported more than double the number of compromises compared to 2022. The ITRC noted that while Healthcare led all industries in terms of the number of reported compromises in each of the past five years, Utilities companies led in the estimated number of victims in 2023. The ITRC also found that supply chain attacks continue to impact more organizations and victims. The number of organizations impacted has surged by more than 2600 percentage points since 2018. The estimated number of victims has also risen by 1400 percentage points.