Breach Data Highlights a Pivot to Orgs Over Individuals
In 2020, breaches were down by 19%, while the impact of those compromises measured in people affected fell by nearly two-thirds.
Both the number of data breaches and the number of individuals affected by data breaches plummeted in 2020, as attackers moved away from collecting mass amounts of information and instead targeted user credentials as a way to infiltrate corporate networks to install ransomware.
That s according to a new report, out Jan. 28 from the Identity Theft Resource Center, which estimates that more than 300 million individuals were affected by data breaches in 2020, a large number but a drop of 66% over the previous year. In addition, the number of reported data breaches fell to 1,108, a decline of 19% over 2019.