INFOGRAPHIC
More than 2.5 billion records stolen or compromised globally in 2017
Gemalto , a world leader in digital security , has released the latest findings of the Breach Level Index , revealing that 2.6 billion records were stolen , lost or exposed worldwide in 2017 , an 88 % increase from 2016 .
While data breach incidents decreased by 11 %, 2017 was the first year publicly disclosed breaches surpassed more than two billion compromised data records since the Breach Level Index began tracking data breaches in 2013 .
Over the past five years , nearly 10 billion records have been lost , stolen or exposed , with an average of five million records compromised every day . Of the 1,765 data breach incidents in 2017 , identity theft represented the leading type of data breach , accounting for 69 % of all data breaches .
Malicious outsiders remained the number one cybersecurity threat last year at 72 % of all breach incidents . Companies in the healthcare , financial services and retail sectors were the primary targets for breaches last year . However , government and educational institutions were not immune to cyber-risks in 2017 , making up 22 % of all breaches .
The Breach Level Index serves as a global database that tracks and analyses data breaches , the type of data compromised and how it was accessed , lost or stolen .
Based on data breach reports collected in the Breach Level Index , the major 2017 highlights include :
Human error a major risk management and security issue
Accidental loss , consisting of improper disposal of records , misconfigured databases and other unintended security issues , caused 1.9 billion records to be exposed . A dramatic 580 % increase in the number of compromised records from 2016 .
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