14% surge in data breach disclosures in Q1 2022

A study by the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), a non-profit organization established to minimize risk and mitigate the impact of identity compromise, has found that the number of publicly reported data breaches in the US increased by 14% in the first three months of 2022.

The increase, according to the non-profit, is the third year in a row that Q1 figures have surpassed those from the previous year.

The ITRC found that cyber-attacks were responsible for 92 percent of breaches, with phishing and ransomware being the most common culprits. However, around 40% of attacks in Q1 2022 did not include the root cause, making the "unknown" the most common attack vector. Compared to the full year of 2021, the total number of unknown breach causes has increased by 40%.

System and human errors accounted for 8% of data breaches during the same period, while physical attacks, such as skimming devices or document or device theft, accounted for only 3%. In Q1 2022, the most breaches occurred in the healthcare, financial services, manufacturing and utilities, and professional services sectors.

According to Eva Velasquez, President and CEO of the ITRC, the first quarter of the year usually see the fewest data breaches. Another indicator that data compromises will continue to rise in 2022 after reaching a new all-time high in 2021 is that the number of breach events in Q1 increased by double digits over the same period last year.

Due to highly complex and sophisticated cyber-attacks, we saw an alarming number of data breaches last year, fueling the dramatic rise in identity fraud. She went on to say that everyone should continue to practice good cyber hygiene to help reduce the amount of personal information falling into the hands of cyber thieves.