This has probably been the most difficult year in a long time, with virtually all industries and services being impacted by the pandemic. Fortunately it is about to end, nonetheless, information security industry is no exception to the difficult times, as 2020 will be one of the periods in which the most data breaches were reported, consolidating a trend that now seems irreversible.
The most recent report from Atlas VPN experts mentions that 36 billion compromised records were reached in the first quarter of this year alone, double the records leaked throughout 2019 and more than 50% of the compromised records during the last 5 years.
According to the report, between January and September 2020 there was a 332% increase in the number of compromised confidential records compared to the same period of the previous year. As for the last five years, this data shows an increase of 1453%. As in previous periods, data security incidents increased by the last quarter of the year by 2020.
Data leakage on the rise
In the first quarters of 2020 nearly 3,000 publicly disclosed cyberattack incidents were registered, indicating a reduction of more than 50% compared to reported incidents in 2019. Atlas VPN experts attribute this trend to the reduction in business and government center activities due to the pandemic and the containing measures implemented worldwide.
Although fewer incidents were recorded, each report contains devastating figures. For example, more than 100 million records were leaked this year in just eleven incidents; in total, more than 19 billion records were seen in just 840 incidents by 2020.
Health sector, the most vulnerable industry
It is a known fact that no organization is completely safe from security incidents, although some are more prone to these attacks. According to experts, the health sector was the target of multiple incidents this year, following the trend of the second part of 2019.
Health organizations have become a priority target for cybercriminal groups. Experts estimate that more than 80% of health care systems operate with outdated software, further complicating the landscape for these organizations.
He is a well-known expert in mobile security and malware analysis. He studied Computer Science at NYU and started working as a cyber security analyst in 2003. He is actively working as an anti-malware expert. He also worked for security companies like Kaspersky Lab. His everyday job includes researching about new malware and cyber security incidents. Also he has deep level of knowledge in mobile security and mobile vulnerabilities.
