Growing a Business? Beware of Data Breaches

One of the major challenges businesses face today is data loss.  Data breaches are pervasive, affecting every country in the world, and result in billions of data records vanishing.  They also impact various industries, harming business owners and customers alike.

The United State suffers the largest number of data breaches, with its lost or stolen records making up 64% of global data losses.  Between 2013 and 2020, the United States lost 6.2 billion data records, dwarfing the numbers from other data breach hot spots such as China and India.  In 2022 alone, more than 15 million data records were stolen in the United States. 

Different states experience different levels of data loss and theft.  In order of magnitude, the five states with the biggest losses are California, Oregon, Maryland, Georgia, and Virginia.  California lost 5.6 billion records, making up most of the United States’ loss. 

In terms of industries, some are more at-risk than others.  Financial services, healthcare, and transportation often see high numbers of attacks from hackers and spammers, although many other industries could also be affected.  Between 2021 and 2022, 5,212 global businesses confirmed that they experienced data breaches and loss.  

When you consider the implications of data breaches, these numbers pose a concern.  One breach can impact thousands of people as their information is released to third parties.  For example, a case in the United Kingdom resulted in data exfiltration that impacted 400,000 customers.  Data loss can fracture the trust between company and consumer and strip businesses and countries of important knowledge. 

There are several ways data breaches can occur.  Human error is a major factor.  This may include accidental deletion or a lack of experience and training.  Another cause is malware, such as spoofing, ransomware, and phishing.  Finally, unexpected events play a role, whether they be natural disasters, software glitches, or hardware failure. 

Data breaches have occurred for thousands of years.  This may appear counterintuitive, as we associate data loss with technology and the internet.  However, data has been destroyed in other ways throughout history.  For example, the burning of the Library of Alexandria in 48 BC is estimated to have resulted in a data loss of 571.4 GB.  No matter what our data looks like, data loss is a global and historical certainty and requires precautions to reduce its impact. 

While building a business, take the time to prepare yourself for potential cyberattacks.  Protect your data and your customers’ data.  Extra precautions can reduce your risk of becoming part of data loss statistics.