Data breaches become common, as more people become exposed to data theft

According to a report by Experian, breaches will likely continue to focus on payment systems, but the accelerated adoption of chip-and-PIN technology is thwarting the traditional exploits for collecting and monetizing credit card data. As a result, Experian suggested thieves will look elsewhere for opportunities.

The Identity Theft Resource Center reports that as of September 1st 2015, 533 breaches have occurred and that over 140 million records have been exposed across business, educational, government and health care sectors. That represents about 44% of the population of the US and it means that if you have a credit card, Social Security number or password, your information has probably been compromised in one or more of the breaches. IBM and the Ponemon Institute have also released a study reporting the cost of a breach to enterprises is up in 2015. The total cost increased 23% over since 2013 to just under USD 4 million.

Although the average cost of a breach may be around USD 4 million, the actual liability organizations agree to provide when protecting data in the cloud is much higher. In other words, organizations that host or store customer information are going to be held liable in the event of a data breach, and the associated costs are potentially more severe.