2020 Data Breaches Point to Cybersecurity Trends for 2021
As the COVID-19 pandemic grabbed 2020 headlines, the list of data breaches in government and the private sector quietly grew. And then came SolarWinds. What’s next?
Risk Based Security released their 2020 year-end data breach report this past week, and despite an overall decline in breach events (security incidents), the number of breached records grew dramatically.
Other trends included a doubling of ransomware attacks from 2019 to 2020, and data breach severity rising.
Here are some of the highlights from the report:
“There were 3,932 publicly reported breach events at the time of this report; a 48% decline compared to 2019. As the year matures, and 2020 breaches continue to be disclosed into 2021, it is typical for the number of reported breaches to grow by 5% to 10%. In normal times that would place 2020 on par with 2015 and 2016 breach years.
2020 saw fewer data breaches but more records exposed
The number of publicly reported breach events decreased by 48 percent in 2020. However, more than 37 billion records were compromised, an increase of 141 percent.
A report released today by Risk Based Security reveals that this is by far the most records exposed in a single year since the company began reporting in 2005. 2020 has challenged the security-minded community quite unlike any other, and the number of records exposed highlights how unique the year has been, says Inga Goddijn, executive vice president at Risk Based Security. We do not believe fewer breaches are happening. Disruptions at certain governmental sources, delayed reporting, and declining news coverage have all contributed to fewer breaches coming to light in 2020, but that is only a part of the story. More complex and damaging attacks have also contributed to lengthy and complex investigations.
2020 sees huge increase in records exposed in data breaches on January 21, 2021, 10:50 AM PST The number of breaches may have fallen, but the number of exposed records hit a high not seen since 2005, says Risk Based Security. Image: iStockphoto/Rawpixel
Data breaches now seem to be a never-ending story as we constantly hear about one company after another being compromised. The true damage of these breaches lies in how much private or confidential information is exposed. Though the number of reported breaches may have declined last year, the number of breached records skyrocketed, according to a report released Thursday by security firm Risk Based Security (RSB).