Over 2b personal data records leaked from high-tech companies in 2016

KUALA LUMPUR: A report on data leaks from high-tech companies in 2016 saw 30% growth in the number of such leaks and more than an eightfold increase in the volume of compromised data, according to enterprise cybersecurity solutions vendor InfoWatch Analytical Center.
The high-tech companies accounted for almost 75% of all globally compromised data (2.3 billion records), 87% of which were personal data.
“We are witnessing more and more leaks and compromised data in the high-tech companies, where information, including customer data, is usually a key asset, and therefore any leak can have a disastrous impact on business," said Sergey Khayruk, analyst at InfoWatch Group.
“In 2016, personal data of hundreds of millions of users were stolen from popular social media, such as Facebook, Foursquare, GitHub, iCloud, LinkedIn, MySpace, Snapchat, Telegram, Tumblr, and Twitter. Moreover, hackers successfully attacked the largest email services, including Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, and Mail.ru, and pilfered customer details from telecom companies, such as Deutsche Telekom, Three UK, Verizon, and others.”
In 2016, 31 mega leaks compromised more than 95% of data leaked in the high-tech sector, with over 10 million records leaked in each such case. Attackers compromised much more personal data, while the shares of payment details, trade secrets, and know-how shrank in the total number of leaks.