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KEY FINDING #2

DATA BREACHES EXPOSED 1.68 BILLION NON-SENSITIVE

RECORDS IN ADDITION TO THE 446,515,334 SENSITIVE

RECORDS EXPOSED

Sensitive personally identifiable information is not the only information that is exposed in a

breach. In 2018, we also captured the number of non-sensitive records (email addresses,

passwords, usernames, etc.) exposed through data breaches and found an additional 1.68 billion
(1,687,470,669) exposed in addition to the 446,515,334 sensitive records exposed. The exposures
stemmed from 37 of the 1,244 breaches.

While some consumers may discount a data breach involving their non-sensitive PII, it’s
important for them to understand that having this type of information compromised can have
serious ramifications as well. A consumer’s identity is similar to that of a puzzle and the more

accurate pieces a thief has about someone, the more they can successfully

represent that person. In addition, thieves can take non-sensitive PII like
email addresses and use high-tech software to “guess” the passwords for

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