InfoWatch Analytics Center presents the report on the confidential data leakage research in the hi-tech industry (software and hardware manufacturers, mobile network operators, Internet service providers, search engines, social networks, IT services etc.).
2016 was a period of attacks on social networks and online services. As a result of external attacks, the data owned by hundreds of millions of users was stolen from such services as Facebook, Foursquare, GitHub, iCloud, LinkedIn, MySpace, Snapchat, Telegram, Tumblr, Twitter, and Yahoo. In addition, hackers effectively attacked some of the largest email services: Google (Gmail), Mail.ru, Microsoft (Hotmail), Yahoo. Telecommunication companies were also affected badly. Attackers stole customer data from Deutsche Telekom, Three UK, Verizon and other operators.
Key Report Highlights
In 2016, InfoWatch Analytics Center registered 231 leakages of confidential information in the hi-tech industry across the world. This is a 27% year-over-year growth in the same industry. The volume of compromised records in the industry increased more than eightfold. The share of data leakages from hi-tech companies reached 14.9% of the total number in all industries. At the same time, 73% of compromised records across the world were owned by companies operating in this industry. 90.9% of leakages in the industry were related to compromising the personal data and payment information. In 2016, 31 massive data leakages were registered in the industry. Each of them resulted in a leakage of at least 10 mln personal data records. In total, massive data leakages accounted for 96.6% of compromised records.