Page 9 - End of Year 16 Page Booklet QTY 50

Hacking was the most common form of data breach in 2018, totaling 482 data breaches and

exposing 16 million (16,698,248) consumer records. Impacting the Medical, Government,
Education and Business Sectors, hacking resulted in the third highest exposure of data when

considering the total number of records exposed. Unauthorized Access, the second most
common form of data breach, totaling 377 data breaches, exposed the highest number of records

at 404 million (404,229,807). Accidental Exposure had the third highest number of breaches
totaling 114, and ranked second in total number of records exposed at 22 million (22,137,625).

In 2017, Hacking was the most popular form of data breach and ranked first in total number of

records exposed - a massive 956 data breaches with 168,049,359 consumer records exposed.
Unauthorized Access was the second most common form of data breach with a total of 186 data

breaches and only 538,972 records exposed. Employee Error/Negligence/Improper Disposal/
Lost was the third most common form of data breach with 166 data breaches and 146,033,289

records exposed, ranking second as the highest number of records exposed for 2017.

As we head into 2019, the ITRC will continue to work with stakeholders to address the use of
“unauthorized access” as a catch-all identifier. It is our position that this categorization is not an

accurate reflection of the true method of intrusion and doesn’t provide stakeholders with the
necessary data needed to make informed decisions on remediation.

© IDENTITY THEFT RESOURCE CENTER 2019 | IDTHEFTCENTER.ORG