Global data breaches responsible for the disclosure of personal information

Abstract

Data breaches have gained extensive coverage as businesses and organisations of all sizes become more dependent on digital data, cloud computing and workforce mobility. Companies store sensitive or confidential data on local machines, enterprise databases and cloud servers. To breach a company’s data one needs to gain access to restricted networks. Although this is a difficult task that requires specialised skills, hackers continuously identify vulnerabilities and loopholes to gain access and conduct data breaches. The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse1 recorded 901,010,077 data breaches since 2005, with only 5,220 data breaches made public. In 2015 some of the world’s largest recorded data breaches occurred; yet a total of only 266 data breaches were made public. 2016 still had a number of major data breaches and a total of 472 breaches were made public. When conducting business in the modern era, data protection and management of personal information have become an integral aspect for organisations and individuals. Despite increased focus on personal information and the existence of data protection legislation internationally, data breaches remain a common occurrence resulting in major cost implications. This paper investigates the most significant data breaches in 2015 and 2016 responsible for the leakage of personal information, with the aim of identifying a general trend in terms of data breaches and personal identifiable (PII) leakage.