"US Data Breach Victim Numbers Surge 1170% Annually"

According to security researchers at the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), the number of US data breach victims in Q2 2024 increased annually by over 1000%, despite a 12% decrease in the actual number of incidents in those three months.  The researchers claimed the Q2 increase in victim numbers was due to the impact of a small number of large breaches and impacted organizations like Prudential Financial and Infosys McCamish System, revising victim counts from tens of thousands to millions of customers.  Through the first half of the year, the researchers tracked 1571 data compromises, putting H1 2024 14% higher than H1 2023.  The number of data breach victims in the first six months of 2024 (1,078,989,742) increased by 490% compared to the first half of 2023 (182,645,409).  However, the estimate didn’t include the Change Healthcare supply chain attack, which is believed to have impacted a significant number of US victims.  The researchers say that reported compromises increased in 10 of the 16 industries, with financial services as the most compromised industry.  Healthcare breaches actually declined 37% in H1 2024, pushing the sector into second place.  Driver’s License data was stolen in 25% of data breaches in H1 2024, reflecting its growing use for identity verification.

Infosecurity Magazine reports: "US Data Breach Victim Numbers Surge 1170% Annually"