Cyberattacks are becoming increasingly common, threatening retailers, individuals, and countries. One dangerous result of these attacks is data loss. Data loss is a problem that impacts every country, making it a wide scale global threat.
From January 2022 to November 2022, over 15 million data records were leaked across the world. Nearly two-thirds of these leaks occurred in the United States, which is the country that sees the highest number of data breaches. However, India and China also see large data leaks.
Within the United States, California, Oregon, and Maryland experience the highest levels of data leaks. These leaks occur in industries such as finance, healthcare, and manufacturing, and there are several ways they can occur. Some leaks happen accidentally due to software malfunctions or glitches. Human error and malware also contribute to data breaches.
While data leaks are often associated with the digital age, they have been happening for thousands of years in different forms. The losses of the Library of Alexandria and the Royal Library of Ashurbanipal are two examples of historic data loss. Throughout history, it is likely that we have lost over 35,000 GB of data.
Data breaches threaten our privacy and access to information. They require attention and careful preventative measures, so it is important to be conscious of data vulnerabilities and possible breaches.
