There was a dramatic decline in data breaches in the third quarter of 2024, but that may be because there were so many reported in the second quarter.
The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) reports 672 publicly reported data compromises in the Q3, an 8% decline compared to the second quarter. For the first three quarters of 2024, there have been 2,242 compromises, which amounts to 70% of 2023’s full-year total.
There were also fewer victims in the third quarter of the year – 241,889,316 compared to 1,043,903,153 in Q2. That inflated number is mostly due to the massive Ticketmaster and Advance Auto Parts data events earlier this year.
“While we will likely not set a new record for the number of data compromises in a single year as we did in 2023, there are some interesting trends in the Q3 2024 Data Breach Report,” said Eva Velasquez, ITRC’s CEO.
“In particular, the number of businesses reporting multiple data breaches in the past 12 months and the return of mega-data breaches that impact more than 100 million people. These trends prove that businesses must continue to prioritize data and identity protection, and consumers must take the steps needed to make their information less valuable to criminals.”
Healthcare was the most vulnerable
In the third quarter, financial services firms reported the most compromises – 141. Healthcare facilities had 123, professional services reported 91 and manufacturing firms suffered 66 data breaches.
The company with the most customers whose data was compromised was AT&T, with 110 million victims.
By now, it’s very likely that every U.S. consumer’s data has been leaked to bad actors, who can use it to steal identities. But best protection against identity theft is to place freezes on your credit reports at all three credit agencies – Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.
Here are the sites where you can do that: