Nearly 2B Records Compromised in First Half of 2017, Report Finds

The first half of 2017 has been a particularly brutal six-month period for data breaches, according to the Gemalto Breach Level Index report released on Sept. 20. During the first half of 2017, there were 918 data breaches, including 22 large breaches that led to a huge volume of data record loss. According to Gemalto’s analysis, 1.9 billion records were lost in the period from January to June 2017, which is a 164 percent increase over the last six months of 2016. Looking at the sources of the attacks, Gemalto found that malicious outsiders accounted for 74 percent of all data breaches during the first half of this year. In this slide show, eWEEK looks at some of the highlights from the Gemalto First Half 2017 Breach Level Index report.

From January to June 2017, 1.9 billion data records were compromised, which is a 164 percent increase over the previous six-month period (July to December 2016).

According to Gemalto, identity theft was the most common mode of attack used in data breaches during the first half of 2017.

Seventy-four percent of breaches analyzed in the first half of 2017 were attributed to malicious outsiders. In contrast, only 8 percent were attributed to malicious insiders.

In the vast majority of organizations that were breached, Gemalto found that data encryption was not being properly used.

Over the last four years, the health care industry has had more data breach incidents than any other industry vertical.

Malicious outsiders may be a top breach source, but looking at the total number of records lost in the first half of 2017, Gemalto found that accidental loss was the leading source.

Eighty-eight percent of all attacks in the first half of 2017 impacted organizations in North America.