At least 1.38 billion records of data were reported stolen — that is about 43 records every second — during the year 2016 through data breaches at enterprises globally, a report by IT firm Wipro said.
According to Wipro’s latest ‘State of Cybersecurity Report’, the year 2016 saw enterprises across multiple verticals witnessing increased number of data breaches.
“The frequency of attacks increased in 2016 and their impact has also been magnified to a great extent…there has been a significant growth of 53.6 per cent for stolen records in the year 2016, when compared to 2015,” it added.
The report estimates that a “minimum 1.38 billion records of data were reported stolen” in 2016.
“It is not just the sheer quantity of information assets that have been lost or disclosed publicly, but in the aftermath of the attacks, customer faith has been severely dented for many enterprises,” the report noted.
The negative public sentiment, after the breaches were notified, was also reflected into stock price dips and/or lower business online, ultimately hitting the bottom line.
The report covered 139 organisations from 11 countries across sectors like Banking, manufacturing and healthcare, among others.
Interestingly, healthcare vertical was the most impacted in 2016, accounting for 30 per cent of the publicly disclosed attacks. Other verticals like government, financial services, education, retails and technology were also attacked.
The report suggested that enterprises regularly test their cyber security products for vulnerabilities to assess and act on inherent risks.
