Data breaches occur every 39 seconds globally. Email addresses leak in 90 percent of large incidents. Personal identifiable information accounts for 45 percent of stolen data across reported cases.
Key Takeaways
- Personal identifiable information (PII) was the most stolen data type at 45% of breaches
- In 2023, the global average cost of a data breach reached $4.45 million, marking an 15% increase over five years
- Healthcare was the most affected industry with 20% of breaches in 2023
- There were 8,235 data breaches reported in the US in 2023
- 95% of breaches contained within 200 days in 2023
- 422 million records stolen in 30 major breaches in 2023 Q1-Q3
Data theft incidents are rising globally, highlighting the need for stronger defenses and faster response.
Related reading
01 · Category
Data Types19 stats
01
Personal identifiable information (PII) was the most stolen data type at 45% of breaches
02
Credentials stolen in 49% of web application breaches in 2023
03
Financial data involved in 11% of breaches per Verizon DBIR 2024
04
Protected health information (PHI) compromised in 20% healthcare incidents
05
Payment card data stolen in 5% of all breaches but 24% retail
06
Customer PII most targeted at 82% of breaches
07
Intellectual property stolen in 12% of incidents 2023
08
Medical records exposed in 47% of healthcare breaches 2023
09
SSNs stolen in 15% of US identity theft cases 2023
10
Email addresses leaked in 90% of large breaches
11
Passwords compromised in 24% of incidents via keylogging
12
Biometric data stolen in under 1% but rising in 2023
13
Trade secrets exfiltrated in 23% espionage incidents
14
Bank details in 8% of dark web listings 2023
15
Fullz (complete identity kits) 35% of stolen data sales
16
Corporate databases 40% of exfiltrated data volume
17
IoT device credentials in 7% of breaches 2023
18
Location data sold from 70% of mobile breaches
19
Source code repositories hacked for IP in 18% dev breaches
Interpretation
Data Types Interpretation
If you're a modern criminal, your shopping list is oddly human: you're mostly just buying and selling people's identities, from their email addresses (90% of the time) and passwords to their very selves (with 'fullz' identity kits making up 35% of sales), because while stealing a company's secret sauce (23% of espionage) is valuable, there's no easier money than simply becoming someone else.
02 · Category
Financial Impact28 stats
01
In 2023, the global average cost of a data breach reached $4.45 million, marking an 15% increase over five years
02
US organizations faced the highest average data breach cost at $9.44 million in 2023
03
Healthcare industry breaches cost an average of $10.93 million in 2023, the highest among sectors
04
Phishing attacks contributed to 16% of breaches with an average cost of $4.88 million
05
Lost business was the largest cost component at 36% or $1.6 million per breach in 2023
06
Detection and escalation costs averaged $1.48 million per breach globally in 2023
07
Post-breach response costs hit $1.39 million on average in 2023
08
Notification costs per breach averaged $0.31 million in the US in 2023
09
Organizations with high ransomware visibility saved $2.73 million per incident in 2023
10
AI and automation reduced breach costs by an average of $1.76 million in 2023
11
Zero trust approach saved $1.13 million per breach compared to others in 2023
12
Incident response teams with high maturity saved $2.05 million per breach
13
Cloud breaches cost $4.95 million on average versus $4.95 million hybrid in 2023
14
Stolen credentials were involved in 19% of breaches costing $4.88 million avg
15
Supply chain attacks cost $5.12 million on average in 2023
16
The total global cost of cybercrime is projected to reach $10.5 trillion annually by 2025
17
Data breaches cost businesses $4.35 million on average in 2022 per Ponemon
18
Identity theft resulted in $5.8 billion in losses in 2022 per FTC
19
Ransomware payments averaged $1.54 million per incident in 2023
20
Dark web data sales generated $1.3 billion in 2022
21
Credit card data theft cost $28.3 billion globally in 2022
22
Business email compromise scams led to $2.9 billion losses in 2022
23
Healthcare data breaches cost $9.77 million avg in 2022
24
Retail sector breach costs averaged $3.32 million in 2023
25
Finance sector averaged $5.96 million per breach in 2023
26
Energy sector breaches cost $5.47 million avg in 2023
27
Public sector averaged $3.20 million per breach cost in 2023
28
Manufacturing sector $5.01 million avg breach cost 2023
Interpretation
Financial Impact Interpretation
Despite the sky-high cost of complacency—where a single phishing click can cost a company nearly $5 million—the data proves that investing in AI, zero trust, and a sharp incident response team isn't just prudent security; it's the most cost-effective apology you'll never have to make.
03 · Category
Industries Affected17 stats
01
Healthcare was the most affected industry with 20% of breaches in 2023
02
Financial services saw 14% of all breaches in 2023 Verizon
03
Retail hit by 10% of incidents but higher costs
04
Public administration 12% of breaches in 2023
05
Manufacturing compromised in 13% of cases 2023
06
Education sector 9% of breaches per Verizon 2024
07
Energy/utilities 7% of incidents but high impact
08
Transportation 5% of breaches in 2023
09
25% of healthcare breaches involved ransomware 2023
10
Finance phishing attacks in 22% of sector breaches
11
Retail POS systems targeted in 30% incidents
12
Government espionage 40% of public sector attacks
13
Tech sector supply chain 25% of breaches 2023
14
Pharma IP theft 60% from China per FBI
15
Hospitality breaches up 28% post-pandemic
16
Communications 8% of Verizon breaches 2023
17
Consumer services 6% incidents high volume data
Interpretation
Industries Affected Interpretation
In the grand data heist of 2023, your medical bills, credit score, and even your takeout order were all up for grabs, but the government’s secrets and China’s favorite pharma formulas were clearly the premium targets.
More related reading
04 · Category
Prevalence20 stats
01
There were 8,235 data breaches reported in the US in 2023
02
Globally, data breaches increased by 20% from 2022 to 2023
03
83% of organizations experienced more than one breach in 2023
04
Phishing was involved in 36% of breaches in 2023 per Verizon DBIR
05
74% of breaches involved a human element in 2023
06
Ransomware incidents rose 37% year-over-year in 2023
07
2,365 ransomware attacks confirmed in H1 2023
08
Data breaches occurred every 39 seconds globally in 2023
09
US had 3,205 breaches in 2023 per ITRC
10
India reported 1.3 million cyber incidents in 2022-23
11
UK saw 1,234 data breaches notified in 2023
12
Australia had 1,299 cyber incidents reported in 2023
13
16 billion records exposed in breaches in 2023
14
98% of organizations experienced a cyber incident in past 2 years
15
Supply chain compromises featured in 15% of breaches 2023
16
Vulnerability exploitation in 29% of web app breaches 2023
17
Use of stolen credentials in 49% of web app breaches
18
Brute force attacks in 14% of incidents per Verizon 2023
19
5,199 US data breaches exposed 953 million records in 2022
20
Equifax breach in 2017 affected 147 million people
Interpretation
Prevalence Interpretation
While we’ve all become experts at avoiding suspicious emails, the grim reality of 2023’s data theft statistics suggests we might as well have left our digital doors wide open, considering breaches were as frequent as a ticking clock and humans—often unwittingly—held the key in nearly three-quarters of these incidents.
05 · Category
Trends Mitigation21 stats
01
95% of breaches contained within 200 days in 2023
02
MFA blocked 99% of account compromise attempts 2023
03
AI-driven security reduced breach lifecycle by 28 days
04
Encrypted data harder to exploit, used in 50% incidents no loss
05
Incident response testing cut costs by $2.66 million avg
06
SIEM and XDR reduced MTTD by 37 days 2023
07
52% of breaches due to exploited vulnerabilities
08
Employee training reduced phishing success by 70%
09
Zero trust adoption grew 26% in breached orgs
10
Cloud security posture mgmt saved $1.49 million
11
Breach notification avg 47 days post-discovery 2023
12
Ransomware decryption success 0% without backup
13
Dark web monitoring detected 60% early threats
14
Patch management prevented 32% vuln exploits
15
Privilege access mgmt cut lateral movement 50%
16
GenAI in attacks rose to 8% of phishing 2024
17
Quantum threats to encryption in 10 years per NIST
18
Supply chain risk mgmt adopted by 71% post-SolarWinds
19
Average time to identify breach 204 days in 2023
20
Time to contain breach avg 73 days globally 2023
21
Customer churn post-breach averaged 12.4% in 2023
Interpretation
Trends Mitigation Interpretation
While defenses like MFA and zero trust are getting stronger, the sheer persistence of attackers—who often lurk undetected for months—means our security victories are less about building impenetrable walls and more about relentlessly shortening their stay and limiting the damage when they inevitably get in.
06 · Category
Victims Affected20 stats
01
422 million records stolen in 30 major breaches in 2023 Q1-Q3
02
Yahoo's 2013-2014 breaches impacted 3 billion accounts
03
Marriott breach 2018-2020 exposed 383 million guests
04
LinkedIn 2021 scrape affected 700 million users
05
Facebook Cambridge Analytica impacted 87 million users
06
Capital One 2019 breach hit 106 million customers
07
T-Mobile 2021 breach exposed 54 million customers
08
Optus Australia 2022 breach affected 10 million customers
09
MOVEit breaches in 2023 impacted 62 million individuals
10
Change Healthcare 2024 ransomware hit 1/3 of Americans
11
353 million records exposed in 2023 US healthcare breaches
12
110 million records in 521 financial breaches 2023 US
13
2.6 billion records from 1,900 retail breaches since 2005
14
1.5 billion personal records stolen in first half 2024
15
Snowflake breaches 2024 affected 165 organizations, millions records
16
National Public Data breach 2024 exposed 2.9 billion records
17
17 million French citizens' data stolen in 2024 DC Health
18
208 million UK voter records leaked 2024
19
1.2 billion Indian Aadhaar numbers exposed 2018
20
500 million LinkedIn profiles scraped 2021
Interpretation
Victims Affected Interpretation
These figures make it chillingly clear that in our hyper-connected age, personal data has become the most frequently and catastrophically spilled commodity, leaving us all perpetually mopping up a digital flood with a teaspoon.
Reference
Cite This Report
This report is designed to be cited. We maintain stable URLs and versioned verification dates. Copy the format appropriate for your publication below.
APA
Thomas Lindqvist. (2026, February 13). Data Theft Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/data-theft-statistics
MLA
Thomas Lindqvist. "Data Theft Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/data-theft-statistics.
Chicago
Thomas Lindqvist. 2026. "Data Theft Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/data-theft-statistics.
Sources & references
35 datasets cited across this report · attribution is report-level