PYMNTS Daily Data Dive: US Data Breaches

According to a report highlighting findings from the Identity Theft Resource Center and CyberScout, data breaches in the U.S. reached an all-time high in 2016: 1,093, a 40 percent increase from the year earlier.

The financial services industry accounted for only 52 of the breaches tracked, or 4.8 percent. Business, health care, education, and the government and military were hacked more than the financial services industry.

For the eighth year in a row, hacking, skimming, and phishing were the main drivers of data breaches, representing 55.5 percent of all reported incidents.

While consumers and businesses are constantly warned to pay close attention to their email, email breaches only accounted for 9.2 percent of all hacks. Employee error was responsible for 8.7 percent of the hacks.

In the first six months of 2016, data breaches rose 15 percent, and the number of compromised data records jumped 31 percent compared to the previous six months. Some 64 percent of all data breaches involve identity and personal data theft.

1,093 | Data breaches tracked by ITRC and CyberScout

40 percent | Year-over-year increase in data breaches in the U.S. over 2015

52 | Number of breaches in the financial services industry

55.5 percent | Hacking, skimming or phishing incidents

9.2 percent | Email breaches

8.7 percent | Employee error

15 percent | Increase in data breaches in the first half of 2016

31 percent | Increase in compromised data records in the first half of 2016

64 percent | Percent of data breaches that involve identity and personal data theft