Almost Half of Disclosed Breaches Do Not Include Number of Records Compromised

Perimeter E-Security today unveiled the results of its annual U.S. Data Breach Study, a review of the scope and impact of data security breaches that occurred in the past year.

“While 2009 had the fewest number of data breach incidents reported in the last four years, there was a dramatic increase in the average number of records lost in each incident and a rise in the costs associated with a breach,” said Kevin Prince, Chief Technology Officer, Perimeter E-Security. “The most disturbing trend is that almost half of publicly disclosed data breaches do not include the total number of records compromised.”

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Amongst the key study findings:

• 2009 had the fewest number of data breach incidents reported in the last four years.
• Nearly 40 percent of publicly disclosed data breaches in 2009 did not include the number of records compromised.
• Stolen laptops remain the number one cause of a data breach incident in 2009.
• Improper disposal of documents that lead to a data breach rose a sharp 130 percent over 2008.
• Third parties caused 12 percent of data breach incidents in 2009.

Read more of the press release here.

Related: U.S. Data Breach Study of 2009.