Dive Brief:
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The business and health industries have suffered the most from cyberattacks since Identify Theft Resource Center (ITRC) started tracking breaches in 2005, according to a recent report from the ITRC and IDT911.
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The business and health fields accounted for approximately 36% and 28% of breaches, respectively. The government and military accounted for about 14.4% of breaches.
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In total, over the past 10 years, data breaches have exposed 851 million records. The primary target during the attacks, data breaches have compromised the Social Security numbers of 57.4 million government employees and military personnel since 2005.
Dive Insight:
Education came in a close fourth at 14.1%, with the financial sector accounted for 8% of breaches. Approximately 6.2 million records have already been compromised thus far in 2016.
Federal government agencies such as the Office of Personnel Management and the IRS have been responsible for huge data losses over the last few years. Last August, the IRS revealed that hackers had been able to the steal sensitive data of more than 300,000 taxpayers.
Hackers are going to target low-hanging fruit when conducting an attack, choosing targets that are going to reap the most reward. Industries that have a pattern of lacking cybersecurity measures could find themselves the continued victims of breaches. And as hackers use ransomware to earn cash rather than data they can sell, organizations across sectors will need to boost their cyber defenses.
