The risk of a data breach is higher than ever. It’s only August, and yet 2024 has already seen a 10% rise in these attacks. In fact, 2024 is the worst year for data breaches in history, although next year’s breaches will probably grow even higher. Even worse, there are six specific industries that suffer the most frequent data breaches. Join us as we count them down below from the best of the bad to the absolute worst.

Public Administration

Public administration data breaches put government officials at risk. In 2023, email data breaches leaked the personal data of 26,000 officials. Additionally, Russian cybercriminals attacked several U.S. federal government agencies.

Healthcare

Your personal health records should be confidential. Unfortunately, human errors, web application attacks, and system intrusions make it difficult for the healthcare industry to keep your records safe. No wonder the healthcare industry pays the highest cost per data breach, which reached an astounding $10.93 million in 2023.

Retail

The retail industry has always been hit by a high number of bad actors. From card skimmers to DDoS website attacks, there seems to always be a new way for scammers to attack the retail industry. Part of the blame should fall on the retailers themselves, though, because retailers typically have abysmally low security standards. Credit cards are the hardest hit segment, with 37% of all breaches compromising this data.

Utilities

Energy and other utility companies have been hard hit by nation-state affiliated groups. In fact, they’re responsible for almost 60% of all these data breaches. Another 33% have been caused indirectly by internal personnel, which is just way too high. Half of the utility breaches compromised personal information. The average cost per breach is $4.78 million.

Insurance and Finance

Web application attacks sit as the highest risk for finance and insurance companies. This is extremely problematic as there are also millions of consumers using a web app to access information about their services. Sadly, 34% of these attacks are committed by insider activity. 

It’s quite challenging to make your customers feel secure when they know that more than one-third of all attacks don’t even involve an outside perpetrator. To put this into perspective, financial institutions spend 24% of their annual budget to try and stave off insider attacks.

Manufacturing

Manufacturing companies account for 25.7% of all attacks against the top 10 highest-hit industries. Of these, 60% steal personal data. Financial motives drive 96% of attacks, and affected companies end up paying an average of $4.73 million per attack. Even worse, supply chain attacks are continuously on the rise.

The odds are high that your information will be comprised of at least one of these industries having frequent data breaches. Companies make millions offering identity theft protection, along with protecting you against a data breach. However, this puts the onus back on you, the individual, instead of keeping it where it truly belongs. Do your due diligence to protect your information, and stay well-informed of data breaches.

Published by: Nelly Chavez