The amount of data breaches that were conducted globally in 2019 was more than in any other previous year, coming in at a total of 7,098 detected breaches.
While this might be seen as just a very small in the 7,035 breaches reported during 2018, the rise reported in the overall number of files is much more alarming. There had been a threefold rise during 2019, to 15 billion records as opposed to the 5 billion recorded during 2018. This equates to a 300% increase. So while the total amount of breaches that happened has remained relatively constant in recent years, the average breach is quickly exposing more and more sensitive data.
In relation to the UK specifically, a recent study has shown that 58% of people in the United Kingdom had been affected by a data breach in 2019. Given that the average cost of a data breach in the UK has totalled at around £3 million, data security has become a more and more prevalent issue.
It was revealed that Internet users with BT email accounts were successfully targeted more often than users with Hotmail, Gmail or Yahoo accounts after researchers reviewed more than 750,000 pieces of data. Along with this, UK residents were more in danger if being focused on by cybersecurity criminals when compared to their Canadian, New Zealand and European counterparts.
Being a victim of a data breach can result in major stress and trauma as hackers can use personal data to commit fraud. It is vital that companies and consumers should comprehend hiow crucial data security and privacy is. The introduction of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in 2018 has allowed consumers more management in relation to how their data is handled.
