Data loss has become a major problem for everyday internet users, and a recent report by Surfshark sheds some light on just how serious the issue has become. According to this report, nearly 15 billion user accounts, or 14.9 billion to be precise, have been breached thereby resulting in a loss of personal data. This includes private information like account passwords and email addresses as well as IP addresses.
By far the biggest proportion of accounts that were breached were either American or Russian in origin. The US edges ahead with 2.3 billion users, but with all of that having been said and now out of the way it is important to note that Russia’s 2.2 billion users who had personal data leaked represent a larger chunk of that country’s total population. However, Europe’s amalgamated total of leaked accounts represented 29.6% of the total, which puts it ahead of both the US and Russia if we take Europe as a whole instead of as separate countries.
In spite of the fact that this is the case, half of Europe’s breached accounts come from Russia which indicates that that country is driving up Europe’s statistics. Also, while China has a population around five times that of the US, their number of breached accounts are around half of America’s with just under a billion users or 987 million to be precise.
The average user in the US has faced around 6 data breaches since 2004 which is the same number as European users with all things having been considered and taken into account. Still, no country comes close to Russia in this dubious metric, with every single Russian account having been breached around 15 times on average since 2004.
Data breaches had started to decline towards the end of the 2010s, but this new report shows that the trend is back on the rise. Steps need to be taken to mitigate these breaches otherwise it will be difficult to safeguard the private data of normal internet users and malicious actors would be happy to exploit these vulnerabilities.
Read next: New Study Says Apple Pays Five Times More Than Samsung For Detection Of Vulnerabilities Across Its Devices
By far the biggest proportion of accounts that were breached were either American or Russian in origin. The US edges ahead with 2.3 billion users, but with all of that having been said and now out of the way it is important to note that Russia’s 2.2 billion users who had personal data leaked represent a larger chunk of that country’s total population. However, Europe’s amalgamated total of leaked accounts represented 29.6% of the total, which puts it ahead of both the US and Russia if we take Europe as a whole instead of as separate countries.
In spite of the fact that this is the case, half of Europe’s breached accounts come from Russia which indicates that that country is driving up Europe’s statistics. Also, while China has a population around five times that of the US, their number of breached accounts are around half of America’s with just under a billion users or 987 million to be precise.
The average user in the US has faced around 6 data breaches since 2004 which is the same number as European users with all things having been considered and taken into account. Still, no country comes close to Russia in this dubious metric, with every single Russian account having been breached around 15 times on average since 2004.
Data breaches had started to decline towards the end of the 2010s, but this new report shows that the trend is back on the rise. Steps need to be taken to mitigate these breaches otherwise it will be difficult to safeguard the private data of normal internet users and malicious actors would be happy to exploit these vulnerabilities.
Read next: New Study Says Apple Pays Five Times More Than Samsung For Detection Of Vulnerabilities Across Its Devices
