Gemalto, a world leader in digital security which is showcasing its technology at GITEX Technology Week, has released the latest findings of the Breach Level Index, a global database of public data breaches.
It revealed that 945 data breaches led to 4.5 billion data records being compromised worldwide in the first half of 2018. Compared to the same period in 2017, the number of lost, stolen or compromised records increased by a staggering 133%, though the total number of breaches slightly decreased over the same period, signalling an increase in the severity of each incident.
A total of six social media breaches accounted for more than 56% of total records compromised. Of the 945 data breaches, 189 (20% of all breaches) had an unknown or unaccounted number of compromised data records.
In the United Arab Emirates, two data breaches were recorded with over 14 million comprised data records. In addition, the Telecommunications Regulations Authority (TRA) reported that a total of 274 cyberattacks targeted at government, semi-government and private sector entities in the UAE were recorded in the first seven months of 2018. Despite an overall decline in the number of data breaches, Gemalto’s Breach Level Index data suggests that security incidents are getting faster and larger in scope.
The Breach Level Index is a global database that tracks data breaches and measures their severity based on multiple dimensions, including the number of records compromised, the type of data, the source of the breach, how the data was used and whether or not the data was encrypted. By assigning a severity score to each breach, the Breach Level Index provides a comparative list of breaches.
According to the Breach Level Index, almost 15 billion data records have been exposed since 2013, when the index began benchmarking publicly disclosed data breaches. During the first six months of 2018, more than 25 million records were compromised or exposed every day, or 291 records every second, including medical, credit card and/or financial data or personally identifiable information. This is particularly concerning, since only one percent of the stolen, lost or compromised data records were protected by encryption to render the information useless, a percent-and-a-half drop compared to the first six months of 2017.
“Globally, social media has been the top industry and threat vector for the compromise of personal data this year, while here in the UAE, the primary source of reported data breaches was through app-based platforms,” said Sébastien Pavie, Regional Director META, Enterprise and Cybersecurity, at Gemalto.
“With the introduction of the Information Assurance Standards in the UAE as well as European regulations such as GDPR, 2018 has been a landmark year for data protection regulations and will most likely increase the number of publicly disclosed breaches. This renewed focus on data compliance is challenging for organisations, however it is crucial for building a strong foundation to combat cyberattacks. By implementing a proactive data security approach into the IT infrastructure, companies can effectively prepare for a breach and avoid falling victim to one.”
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