IT Governance: 9.9 million records breached in October 2022
In its monthly analysis of the latest data breaches and cyberattacks across the world, IT Governance has identified 102 publicly disclosed security incidents in October - resulting in 9,990,855 compromised records.
It is IT Governance’s second-highest recorded figure of security incidents this year, coming second only to August – which saw 112 publicly disclosed security incidents and 97,456,345 compromised records.
Alan Calder, Founder and Chairman of IT Governance, says: “What’s worrying is that 9.9 million number could have been much higher, with Amazon leaving its database of Prime members’ viewing habits completely exposed – with a total of 215 million compromised records.
“As the records cannot be used to identify customers by name, we have omitted them from our analysis – but it is a stark warning to all organisations on what the damage of misconfigured Internet-facing servers can do.
“According to Verizon’s 2022 Data Breaches Investigations Report, 82% of data breaches were the result of human error. As cyber criminals gear up to take advantage of the holiday season – a combination of increased online shopping, discounted deals that are too good to be true, and people working remotely with less access to help from IT teams provides the perfect breeding ground for attacks on unsuspecting victims.
“It is crucial that organisations train and retrain their staff now – before the tidal wave of holidays and Christmas parties takes off - on the dangers of phishing emails and unsolicited attacks, so employees are prepared to combat the anticipated rise in cyber criminal activity.”
The full list of incidents with further details are here.