As we pass the midpoint of 2023, the latest study by cybersecurity company Surfshark (https://surfshark.com/research/study/data-breach-statistics-q2-2023) exposes which countries – including the U.S., Russia, France and Spain – suffered the highest count and population density of data breaches for Q2 2023. In sharp contrast, only a few regions like Taiwan managed a notable decrease in leaked data.
The worsening outlook of fraud is not consistent across every part of the world as Asia, Africa, and Antarctica experienced a downturn of incidents, while the 110M leaked accounts reported in Q2 2023 originated mainly in North America, South America and Europe.
The statistics tell a broader picture of the festering fraud landscape which shows no signs of slowing down, however within the Asia-Pacific region, the findings show countries are more prepared as leaders in chip-making and cybersecurity to counter these threats.
Within smaller populations, breach density varied and was estimated to be higher than the overall breach count in more populated countries. Finland is one example where breach density indicated more concentrated incidents of data breaches relative to a smaller population size, matching that of Spain with 78 accounts leaked per 1,000 people. However, Finland was not in the top ‘red’ countries with the highest data breach count.
Between Q2 2023 and Q1 2023, Surfshark’s survey found that traditional and modern threats were undeterred by developing technologies, with 156% more breached accounts globally.
With a vast population size and equally high data breach density, U.S. dominated the fraud table rankings (47 accounts leaked for every 1,000 Americans). The two regions where the next Identity Week events will take place, in Asia and the U.S, showed the biggest disparity in levels of fraud and data breaches as America stands first in the second quarter of 2023 findings and countries in the APAC were excluded altogether from the top 10 table in Q2 2023.
The highest positions were obtained by the U.S. (49.8M) followed by Russia (15.3M), Spain (3.7M), France (3.4M), and Turkey (2.8M).
Asia, the region with the second-highest number of breaches last quarter, saw leaked accounts decrease from 10.9M to 5.8M.
Agneska Sablovskaja, Lead Researcher at Surfshark commented: “According to the most recent Surfshark’s global data breach statistics, leaked accounts surged almost threefold in the second quarter of 2023 compared to the previous quarter.”“Such alarming increase in data breaches highlights that the current data protection measures are not sufficient, and sensitive information remains at risk as cybercriminals continue to access it in ever higher numbers.”
The report used data count and density metrics to compare regional levels of fraud as well as by country between April and June 2023 (Q2 2023). The previous collection of data was completed from January to March of 2023 (Q1 2023).
