Digital security firm Gemalto has revealed that more than 1,500 data breaches led to one billion data records compromised worldwide during 2014, with identity theft a top priority for cybercriminals.The figures from the firm's Breach Level Index (BLI) represent a 49% increase in data breaches and a 78% increase in data records that were either stolen or lost compared to 2013.Gemalto's BLI is a global database of data breaches as they happen. It was developed by SafeNet, a global player in data and software protection which Gemalto finalised the acquisition of in January.Data in the BLI showed that the main motivation for cybercriminals in 2014 was identity theft at 54% of the all data breaches, more than any breach category including access to financial data.”We're clearly seeing a shift in the tactics of cybercriminals, with long-term identity theft becoming more of a goal than the immediacy of stealing a credit card number,” said Tsion Gonen, Vice-President of Strategy for Identity and Data Protection at Gemalto.”Identity theft could lead to the opening of new fraudulent credit accounts, creating false identities for criminal enterprises, or a host of other serious crimes. As data breaches become more personal, we're starting to see that the universe of risk exposure for the average person is expanding.”The Data reaches also became more severe last year with two-thirds of the 50 most severe breaches according to their BLI score having occurred in 2014. Also, the number of data breaches involving more than 100 million compromised data records doubled compared to 2013.Retail and financial services experienced the most noticeable trends compared to other industry sectors in 2014. In terms of data records compromised, the retail industry saw its share increase to 55% compared to 29% last year due to an increased number of attacks that targeted point-of-sale systems.For the Financial Services sector, the number of data breaches remained relatively flat year over year, but the average number of records lost per breach increased ten-fold to 1.1 million from 112,000.”Not only are data breach numbers rising, but the breaches are becoming more severe,” added Gonen. “Being breached is not a question of 'if' but 'when.' Breach prevention and threat monitoring can only go so far and do not always keep the cyber criminals out. Companies need to adopt a data-centric view of digital threats starting with better identity and access control techniques such as multi-factor authentication and the use of encryption and key management to secure sensitive data. That way, if the data is stolen it is useless to the thieves.”
Recent Articles
- Identity Week Europe 2026 raises the bar with 10 first-time speakers making their debut
- Sumsub joins World Economic Forum Unicorn Community to tackle AI fraud and advance inclusive digital identity
- Air carrier interface integrated into EES strategy
- Kentucky’s first mobile ID accepted for air travel
- FRONTEX expert to headline security document design at Identity Week Europe 2026
Recent Video
- New non-profit trade association of HAND will standardise global talent ID
- No cards, no phones: J.P. Morgan’s biometric revolution in payments
- Anthony Vidiano on building the future of access management
- Charisma Check wins 2025 Start-Up Pitching Competition, advancing identity verification and background checks for dating app users
- How to protect one billion Amazon customers: Lessons from continuous risk assessments
