US Data Breach Victim Numbers Increase by 1,000%, Literally

At the end of the second quarter of 2024, the number of US data breach victims has increased by more than 1,000% over the entire previous year, according to new analysis of publicly reported data breaches in the country.

The analysis, conducted by Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), determined that the increase in the number of victims in the second quarter of the year was due to the impact of a small number of very large breaches. So, though the number of victims has increased exponentially, there has been a 12% decrease in the actual number of incidents that occurred during that time frame. 

These large breaches include Prudential Financial and the Infosys McCamish System leaks, which affected Fidelity and Bank of America, among others. Together, these sent the victim count into the millions.

The data breach victim count for the first six months of 2024 was more than 1 billion (1,078,989,742), which is a 490% increase compared to the first half of 2023, which had a victim count of 182.6 million. This tally, however, does not include the Change Healthcare breach, which affected a huge swath of US victims.

"The takeaway from this report is simple," said Eva Velasquez, ITRC president and CEO. "Every person, business, institution and government agency must view data and identity protection with a greater sense of urgency."