Data breaches up more than 200% in Q1

SafeNet, a global provider of data protection, said there was a 233 percent increase in the number of data breaches
during the 2014 first quarter, compared to the same three months a year ago.

According to the company’s Breach Level Index, about 93,000 records were stolen every hour—more than 200 million in all—in 254 publicized global data breaches during the first quarter.

“Because of the varying strictness of data breach reporting requirements around the globe, this quarterly data does not include organizations that didn’t disclose the amount of data records that were disclosed,” said SafetNet in a statement. “In all probability, the total number is likely to be even higher.”

Resource: Breach Level Index website

Among the key findings from SafeNet, malicious insiders stolen more records than outsiders, although outsiders were to blame for more incidents during the first quarter. Outsiders took 43 percent of all records in 156 incidents worldwide. Insiders were successful in stealing 52 percent of the total amount of records despite accounting for 11 percent of total incidents.

Source: SafeNet Breach Level Index

Of the 254 publicized incidents, just 1 percent were deemed by SafeNet to be “secure breaches,” or breaches where strong encryption, key management, or authentication protected data.

South Korea took the top spot among breached countries during the first three months of 2014. About 79 percent (158 million records) of breached records were in South Korea.

Still, the Asia-Pacific region accounted for just 7 percent of the total number of global breaches. Most breached happened in North America (78 percent).