Breach, Data Security

California data breach report reveals spike in incidents

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A new report by California Attorney General Kamala Harris analyzes the damage that data breaches have taken on the state's residents and indicates an uptick in incidents.

A total of 167 breaches were reported in 2013 – where 18.5 million personal records were compromised – an increase of 28 percent from 2012 where just 2.5 million records were stolen, according to the “California Data Breach Report.”

Two of the largest breaches in 2013, involving Target and LivingSocial, had the biggest impact on last year's numbers, accounting for 7.5 million of the stolen records. Of the breaches reported in 2013, 53 percent are attributed to malware and hacking, while 26 were the cause of a stolen device.

In an interview with The New York Times, Harris indicated that in the first ten months of 2014 breaches are already up 30 percent from 2013. 

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