Data Breaches Increased 566% in 2016 with Financial Organizations Most Attacked Again

It probably isn’t too surprising to most that data breaches are up significantly for 2016. However, the percentage that it has increased is a bit shocking even to those deeply entrenched in the cybersecurity industry. According to IBM, that number rose a more than impressive 566% from 2015 to last year. Partially to blame was the breach of Yahoo that resulted in the compromise of a whopping 1.5 billion user records. More news was the unseating of last year’s most attacked industry.

Although financial organizations have stepped up security over the past years, IBM determined they were again in the top spot of most often attacked organizations for 2016. They had fallen to number three in 2015 behind healthcare and manufacturing.

However, not to be left out, healthcare was still very much in the crosshairs of cybercriminals last year. Twelve million records were compromised. It sounds like a lot; and it is, but pales in comparison to the 100 million in 2015. IBM found that one reason is due to the hackers’ focus going more toward smaller companies, which typically have fewer records on offer for the taking.

The highest number of incidents and the largest number of compromised records went to information and communications services companies. This area experienced 85 breaches with 3.4 billion records accessed.

The government was also attacked in 2016. There were 39 incidents and 398 million records compromised.

There were indeed many leaks in 2016 and many, if not most of them were not comprised of recent data. In fact, the records were often unsecured ones from decades before.

What is there to do? At a minimum, implement the basics. At home, that means installing and keeping security software updated. Change default passwords and login names for routers and other networking products. Make sure all of the software and firmware is kept up-to-date on those. Use strong and unique passwords for each online account and change them quarterly. Use multifactor authentication whenever it is offered. Avoid logging onto accounts that store sensitive data or doing financial transactions from public WiFi spots.

Everyone should always keep software on all systems updated with the latest patches and versions of the products. This cannot be stressed enough. Many recent malware versions, including WannaCry, which hit over 300,000 companies worldwide, takes advantage of unpatched systems.

Large corporations, like the aforementioned Yahoo, as well as smaller ones have unwittingly parted with our information due to data breaches. It’s up to us to take measures to protect our own data as much as possible. By following the above recommendations, staying on top of the latest phishing scams and threats, and ensuring we are staying trained on how to identify threats, we have a fighting chance.