The number of breaches and their severity is growing rapidly, reported by digital security company Gemalto.  The report, entitled Breach Level Index, says there has been 15 per cent more data breaches in the first half of 2016, compared to the last six months of 2015. 

A total of 974 data breaches were reported worldwide, compiling 554 million compromised data records, in the first half of 2016.  It is also reported that in more than half of cases, the number of compromised records were not disclosed at the time of the data breach. Looking specifically at the UK, there have been 61 breaches, most of which happened within the government sector. Finance and healthcare sectors were close second and third. 

The biggest data breach occurred at web site called Fling, which had 40 million data records compromised. 

“The fact that 61 companies have been compromised in the UK is certainly alarming, especially as the true number is likely to be much higher, as companies operating in the region aren’t obliged to declare the breaches that they experience,” said Joe Pindar, Chief Technology Officer for Product Strategy at Gemalto. 

Unlike in the UK, US companies are required by law to publically disclose when information has been breached and potentially exposed to public domain.  After such an event, consumers are far less likely to patronize the services of the organization, and regaining public trust becomes a costly and major dilemma.