Publicly disclosed data breaches in the United States increased by 72 percent last year. The average cost of a single breach reached nearly five million dollars. This data reveals a widening gap between security investments and actual outcomes.
Key Takeaways
- There were 2,365 publicly disclosed data breaches in the US in 2023, a 72% increase from 2022 according to ITRC
- Multi-factor authentication (MFA) adoption stands at 52% among organizations per Microsoft's 2023 DNS report
- Global cybercrime costs are projected to reach $10.5 trillion annually by 2025 per Cybersecurity Ventures
- In 2023, ransomware attacks increased by 73% year-over-year, affecting over 2,200 victims worldwide according to the Emsisoft Ransomware Report
- 74% of breaches involved a human element like phishing or error per Verizon DBIR 2024
Recent data shows cyberattacks keep rising, making stronger security practices more urgent than ever.
Related reading
01 · Category
Breach Incidents21 stats
01
There were 2,365 publicly disclosed data breaches in the US in 2023, a 72% increase from 2022 according to ITRC
02
The average cost of a data breach in 2023 reached $4.45 million, up 15% over three years per IBM's Cost of a Data Breach Report
03
MOVEit breaches exposed data of 62 million individuals in 2023, as tracked by SecurityWeek
04
Change Healthcare breach affected 1/3 of Americans, exposing 100 million records per HHS
05
23andMe breach leaked genetic data of 6.9 million users in 2023 per company notification
06
Snowflake breaches impacted 165 organizations, leading to 100 million records stolen per Mandiant
07
AT&T breach exposed call records of 109 million accounts per company disclosure
08
MGM Resorts ransomware halted operations costing $100 million per SEC filing
09
Clorox breach led to $49 million revenue loss in Q4 2023 per earnings call
10
Uber breach via social engineering exposed source code in 2022 but impacts lingered into 2023
11
LastPass breach affected 30 million users' vaults per company update
12
Okta support breach compromised 134 customers per disclosure
13
Caesars Entertainment paid $15 million ransom in 2023 breach per WSJ
14
Change Healthcare paid undisclosed ransom estimated at $22 million per reports
15
SAP NetWeaver vulnerabilities exploited in 1,200+ attacks per Onapsis
16
Optus breach in Australia exposed 10 million customers' data in 2022 impacts 2023
17
Twilio breach via MFA fatigue affected 163 customers per disclosure
18
CitrixBleed vulnerability led to 50+ breaches exposing millions per company
19
Medibank breach in Australia leaked 9.7 million records per OAIC
20
British Library ransomware destroyed irreplaceable data per BBC
21
MOVEit Transfer flaw exploited by Clop in 2,000+ orgs per Progress Software
Interpretation
Breach Incidents Interpretation
It seems that in the grand, modern heist of data, we're not just failing to guard the vault but leaving the blueprints and a complimentary keychain on the front steps, judging by a year where breaches skyrocketed, costs ballooned, and everyone from your genetic code to your grandma's bingo night was up for grabs.
02 · Category
Defense Technologies21 stats
01
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) adoption stands at 52% among organizations per Microsoft's 2023 DNS report
02
83% of organizations use AI/ML for threat detection per Palo Alto Networks 2023 survey
03
Endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools blocked 1.2 billion malware attacks in 2023 per CrowdStrike
04
Zero-trust architecture implemented by 81% of enterprises per Zscaler 2023 report
05
Cloud security posture management (CSPM) tools detected 450 million misconfigurations in 2023 per Prisma Cloud
06
SIEM systems processed 2.5 petabytes of log data daily on average per Splunk 2023 stats
07
Passwordless authentication reduces risk by 99.9% per Microsoft study
08
EDR adoption grew to 72% in enterprises per Gartner 2023 poll
09
XDR platforms prevented 4.5 million attacks per vendor averages in 2023
10
SASE adoption reached 40% globally per Gartner 2023
11
CASB tools blocked 2.8 million shadow IT apps in 2023 per Netskope
12
Behavioral analytics detected 78% of insider threats per Gurucul
13
92% of executives use MFA but only 44% enforce it org-wide per Yubico
14
Vulnerability management programs patch 85% of CVEs within 30 days per Tenable
15
Threat hunting teams uncovered 55% more threats per Gartner
16
Network segmentation reduced breach scope by 50% per NIST case studies
17
DLP solutions prevented 1.1 million data exfiltrations per Forcepoint 2023
18
SOAR automation cut response time by 66% per IBM X-Force
19
Identity and access management (IAM) maturity low at 25% per SailPoint
20
WAF blocked 5.2 trillion attacks in 2023 per F5 report
21
UEBA tools flagged 92% of anomalous behaviors per Exabeam
Interpretation
Defense Technologies Interpretation
Despite the impressive array of digital shields and smart algorithms we've built, our security posture remains a tale of two trends: remarkable technological defenses are constantly battling the relentless tide of threats, while being critically undermined by inconsistent human adoption and enforcement.
03 · Category
Economic Impacts21 stats
01
Global cybercrime costs are projected to reach $10.5 trillion annually by 2025 per Cybersecurity Ventures
02
Ransomware cost businesses $20 billion in 2023 according to Chainalysis Crypto Crime Report
03
Average ransomware payment was $1.54 million in 2023 per Sophos State of Ransomware
04
Cyber insurance claims rose 50% in 2023 costing $3.5 billion per Munich Re
05
BEC scams caused $2.9 billion in losses in 2023 per FBI IC3 report
06
Downtime from breaches cost $9,440per minute per Ponemon Institute
07
Healthcare breach costs averaged $10.93 million in 2023 per IBM
08
Retail sector saw $3.37 million average breach cost per IBM
09
Financial services breaches cost $5.9 million on average per IBM 2023
10
Lost productivity from cyber incidents cost $1.5 trillion globally per McAfee
11
Detection and escalation costs averaged $1.92 million per breach per IBM
12
Notification costs post-breach hit $0.31 million average per IBM 2023
13
Brand damage from breaches lasts 2.3 years costing $1.4 million extra per Ponemon
14
Post-breach stock price drops average 8% per University of Texas study
15
SMBs face 43% higher breach costs relative to revenue per IBM
16
Average time to identify breach is 204 days per IBM 2023, costing extra $4.5 million
17
Containment costs averaged $1.58 million per IBM report
18
Ex-post breach response consumed 28% of total costs per IBM
19
Breach fines and penalties averaged $0.44 million per IBM
20
Lost business costs $1.5 million average from breaches per IBM
21
Customer churn post-breach at 32% per Ponemon
Interpretation
Economic Impacts Interpretation
The startling statistics reveal that cybercrime has evolved from a digital nuisance into a trillion-dollar parasite, methodically siphoning not just cash but time, trust, and entire market valuations from the global economy.
More related reading
04 · Category
Threat Landscape21 stats
01
In 2023, ransomware attacks increased by 73% year-over-year, affecting over 2,200 victims worldwide according to the Emsisoft Ransomware Report
02
DDoS attacks surged by 178% in the first half of 2023 compared to 2022, with over 8.46 million incidents recorded by Cloudflare
03
Phishing attacks accounted for 36% of all data breaches in 2023 per Verizon's DBIR
04
State-sponsored attacks rose 150% in 2023 with China-linked groups active in 50+ countries per Microsoft
05
Supply chain attacks increased by 42% in 2023 per Sonatype report
06
IoT devices faced 1.5 billion attacks per week in Q1 2024 per SonicWall
07
Mobile malware samples grew to 12.7 million in 2023 per Kaspersky
08
Cryptojacking incidents increased 29% to 76 million in 2023 per SonicWall
09
APT groups numbered 148 active in 2023 per CrowdStrike Global Threat Report 2024
10
Vulnerability exploits in breaches dropped to 29% but severity rose per Verizon
11
Deepfake incidents in attacks tripled to 3,000+ in 2023 per Home Security Heroes
12
Zero-day vulnerabilities exploited in 25% of intrusions per Google TAG
13
Botnet attacks hit 7.2 billion per day in 2023 per Imperva
14
Fileless malware attacks grew 225% in 2023 per Malwarebytes
15
Nation-state actors conducted 40% of observed attacks per Mandiant M-Trends 2024
16
Watering hole attacks targeted 150+ orgs in 2023 per Recorded Future
17
Credential stuffing attacks hit 200 billion attempts in 2023 per Akamai
18
Spyware infections rose 50% targeting journalists per Amnesty International
19
ICS/OT attacks doubled to 400 per week per Dragos 2023
20
Magecart attacks on e-commerce sites hit 1,800 in 2023 per RiskIQ
21
Infostealer malware stole 2 billion credentials in 2023 per SpyCloud
Interpretation
Threat Landscape Interpretation
The internet's bad actors have clearly taken "new year, new me" to heart, launching a full-spectrum assault that’s less a subtle pickpocketing and more a frenzied, multi-pronged heist on everything from our data and devices to our very sense of reality.
05 · Category
User Vulnerabilities21 stats
01
74% of breaches involved a human element like phishing or error per Verizon DBIR 2024
02
95% of cybersecurity issues are due to human error according to Help Net Security survey
03
Only 24% of employees received cybersecurity training in the past year per Proofpoint 2023 report
04
81% of hacking-related breaches used stolen credentials per Verizon DBIR 2024
05
Password reuse is practiced by 59% of users per Google 2023 survey
06
Social media phishing success rate is 3.24% vs email's 0.05% per KnowBe4
07
Use of compromised personal devices in breaches rose 20% per Verizon DBIR
08
43% of users click phishing links in simulations per Proofpoint
09
Remote workers 300% more likely to infect systems per Zscaler
10
68% of breaches involved privileged credentials per BeyondCorp study
11
Generative AI phishing emails rose 1,265% in late 2023 per SlashNext
12
Only 15% of SMBs have incident response plans per Accenture
13
Misconfigurations caused 60% of cloud breaches per Palo Alto 2023
14
91% of organizations experienced phishing attempts per Proofpoint 2024
15
Employee training reduces phishing success by 70% per Infosec Institute
16
IoT devices in breaches increased 150% per Verizon DBIR
17
52% of users share passwords with colleagues per LastPass study
18
Vishing calls rose 344% in 2023 per Barracuda
19
Third-party breaches caused 44% of incidents per UpGuard
20
70% of employees bypassed security policies per Varonis
21
AI-generated phishing evaded detection 60% more per Egress
Interpretation
User Vulnerabilities Interpretation
We have thoroughly armored our digital castles with the latest firewalls and encryption, yet we continue to leave the main gate wide open, manned by overworked, undertrained, and occasionally click-happy humans who are just trying to do their jobs.
Reference
Cite This Report
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APA
Priya Chandrasekaran. (2026, February 13). Internet Security Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/internet-security-statistics
MLA
Priya Chandrasekaran. "Internet Security Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/internet-security-statistics.
Chicago
Priya Chandrasekaran. 2026. "Internet Security Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/internet-security-statistics.
Sources & references
71 datasets cited across this report · attribution is report-level
akamai.com