Falhas de segurança possibilitaram uma média de 25 milhões de registros comprometidos por dia durante os seis primeiros meses de 2018

During the first six months of 2018, more than 25 million records were compromised or exposed each day, representing 291 records every second. This was caused by database breaches, such as hacker attacks and leaks from social networks like Facebook, according to the Breach Level Index released by Gemalto—a giant in the field of digital security. This data is particularly concerning, as only 1% of stolen, lost, or compromised data records were protected by encryption to render the information useless, a decrease of 1.5% compared to the first six months of 2017. The number of lost, stolen, or compromised records increased by 133% compared to the same period last year, although the total number of breaches decreased slightly during the same period, signaling an increase in the severity of each incident, according to the security company’s report. In the first half of last year, there were 1,168 data breaches, 217 more. Six social media breaches, including the Cambridge Analytica-Facebook incident, accounted for more than 56% of the total compromised records. Of the 945 data breaches, 189 (20% of all breaches) had an unknown or unaccounted number of compromised data records. The Breach Level Index is a global database that tracks data breaches and measures their severity based on several dimensions, including the number of compromised records, the type of data, the source of the breach, how the data was used, and whether the data was encrypted or not. By assigning a severity score to each breach, the Breach Level Index provides a comparative list of breaches, distinguishing data breaches that are not serious from those that are truly impactful. The way this process happens and its impacts are not very noticeable to the consumer, but last September, people were able to understand a little better when the social media giant Facebook suffered a malicious attack, and hackers exploited a flaw in profile features to take over millions of users' accounts. Social media ranks first in the number of violated records (56%), due to high-profile customer data compromised at Facebook and Twitter, involving 2.2 billion and 336 million, respectively. “Social media has been the main sector and threat vector for personal data compromise, a trend we can expect to continue, with more and more sectors using these platforms to reach target audiences, especially political teams preparing for major elections,” said Jason Hart, vice president and chief technology officer for data protection at Gemalto. Source:  Security Information News

Frequently asked questions

What is the Breach Level Index and what does it measure?

The Breach Level Index is a global database that tracks data breaches and rates their severity based on factors such as the number of compromised records, the type of data involved, the source of the breach, and whether the data was encrypted. It assigns a severity score to each incident, making it possible to tell genuinely damaging breaches apart from less serious ones. The index is published by Gemalto, a company in the digital security field.

How many data records were compromised per day in the first half of 2018?

According to Gemalto's Breach Level Index, more than 25 million records were compromised or exposed every day during the first six months of 2018, equal to 291 records per second. That volume was 133% higher than the same period in 2017, even as the total number of breaches dropped slightly, from 1,168 in the first half of 2017 to 945 in the same period of 2018. The data points to breaches becoming more severe, not necessarily more frequent.

Why was social media the top vector for data breaches in 2018?

Social media accounted for 56% of all breached records in the period, driven by high-profile incidents at Facebook (2.2 billion records) and Twitter (336 million), including the Cambridge Analytica-Facebook case. Jason Hart, Gemalto's vice president and chief technology officer for data protection, said this trend is expected to continue as more sectors, including political teams, rely on these platforms to reach audiences.