US data breach victimization spikes

USA Today reports that U.S. data breach victims have reached 1.07 billion during the first six months of 2024, representing a 409% growth over 182.65 million victims recorded during the same period last year, with most of the victims recorded from breaches disclosed or updated during the second quarter.

Such a significant increase in victimization comes amid a 14% increase in the number of data breaches, as well as a 23% growth in driver's license data exfiltration between the first half of 2023 and the first half of 2024, according to a report from the Identity Theft Resource Center. "While the victim count is eye-popping, keep in mind this includes people who are impacted by more than one breach. Also, about 1 billion of the victims are related to a handful of mega-breaches such as Ticketmaster and Advanced Auto Parts but do not include a victim count from the Change Healthcare supply chain attack since none have been reported yet," said ITRC Chief Operating Officer James Lee.