This is a list of data breaches, using data compiled from various sources, including press reports, government news releases, and mainstream news articles. The list includes those involving the theft or compromise of 30,000 or more records, although many smaller breaches occur continually. Breaches of large organizations where the number of records is still unknown are also listed. In addition, the various methods used in the breaches are listed, with hacking being the most common. Most reported breaches are in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

, at least in part because of relatively strict disclosure laws in North American countries. It is estimated that the average cost of a data breach will be over $150 million by 2020, with the global annual cost forecast to be $2.1 trillion."Data Breach Industry Forecast"
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Experian Experian is an American–Irish multinational data analytics and consumer credit reporting company. Experian collects and aggregates information on over 1 billion people and businesses including 235 million individual U.S. consumers and more t ...

'' (2015) As a result of data breaches, it is estimated that in first half of 2018 alone, about 4.5 billion records were exposed."Data breaches compromised 4.5bn records in half year 2018 – Gemalto"The Citizen
October 17, 2018 In 2019, a

collection Collection or Collections may refer to: * Cash collection, the function of an accounts receivable department * Collection (church), money donated by the congregation during a church service * Collection agency, agency to collect cash * Collectio ...

of 2.7 billion identity records, consisting of 774 million unique email addresses and 21 million unique passwords, was posted on the web for sale.

References

Sources

{{Cite news, url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bulgaria-cybersecurity-idUSKCN1UB0MA, title=In systemic breach, hackers steal millions of Bulgarians' financial..., date=2019-07-16, work=Reuters, access-date=2019-07-16, language=en Data security * Data breaches in the United States Internet privacy Internet vigilantism Cyberattacks on energy sector Cyberwarfare *

data breaches A data breach is a security violation, in which sensitive, protected or confidential data is copied, transmitted, viewed, stolen or used by an individual unauthorized to do so. Other terms are unintentional information disclosure, data leak, info ...