Data breaches affected over 422 million people in 2022, Identity Theft Resource Center says

The number of data theft victims has reached an all-time high according to the annual data breach report from the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC).

The number of data breach victims increased by almost 41.5% to more than 422.1 million in 2022, the center said. By number of breaches, though, the year was 60 short of the previous record of 1,862, set in 2021.

“While we did not set a record for the number of data compromises in the U.S. last year, we came close,” said Eva Velasquez, president and CEO of the ITRC. “These compromises impacted at least 422 million people. These numbers are only estimates because data breach notices are increasingly issued with less information.”

Among the victims impacted across 1,802 publicly reported data compromises in 2022 in the US, the report says cyberattacks remain the primary data security threat to businesses and consumers. This includes phishing, smishing, BEC (business email compromise), ransomware, malware and credential stuffing attacks.

“Cyberattacks continued to be criminals' weapons of choice, with 1,595 breaches in 2022,” the ITRC said. “Supply chain attacks outstripped malware attacks in 2022, with 115 instances affecting 1,743 organizations and at least 10 million people.”

While the top compromises include Twitter, Neopets, AT&T and Flexbooker, 19% of the breaches tracked by the ITRC throughout 2022 impacted healthcare organizations.

The report also highlights a worrying trend regarding disclosure of information to data breach victims. Only 34% of all data breach notices revealed attack vectors and victim details in 2022, resulting in less reliable data, making it harder for victims to determine their identity theft risks, and take the necessary steps to protect their information and financial wellbeing.

“The number of breach notices with detailed attack and victim information has dropped by more than 50 percent (50%) since 2019,” the report reads. “The result of these trends is less reliable data that impairs the ability of individuals, businesses, and government officials to make informed decisions about the risk of a data compromise and the actions to take in the aftermath of one.”

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