More people continue to get caught up in large-scale data breaches.
The number of people affected by data breaches in the first half of this year totalled more than 1 billion, a new report shows.
According to research released Wednesday by the Identity Theft Resource Center, 1,571 breaches were reported during the six-month period, impacting an estimated 1.07 billion victims. That total includes people affected by multiple breaches.Â
ITRC, a nonprofit that helps victims of identity theft, said the numbers represent an increase in breaches of about 14% over the same period in 2023. That's notable considering that 2023 set a record for the number of data breaches reported in a single year with 3,203.
The number of people affected also increased significantly, boosted by updated victim counts from incidents reported earlier in the year, along with a handful of massive breaches, the group says.
The data breach involving Ticketmaster Entertainment currently ranks as the largest breach of the first six months of this year. The cybercriminals who claim to be behind that breach say they stole the personal information of 560 million people, but Ticketmaster has yet to verify that number, ITRC says.Â
