It is very common, especially in today’s largely technological age, for data to be lost or stolen on a large scale. On every habitable continent on planet earth, data breaches have an effect on the well-being and livelihood of every citizen. From January 2022 to November 2022, over 15 million global data records were exposed, leaked, or stolen. Nearly two thirds of all global data losses have occurred in the United States, affecting all fifty states in one way or another.
The top five data losses have occurred in California, Oregon, Maryland, Georgia, and Virginia. It has been concluded that the main reasons for losses of this kind are human error, malware, and unexpected events like software glitches or even natural disasters. While these losses are very detrimental to each country or state involved, they are not the only entities affected by data loss.
Industries such as finance, healthcare, public administration, manufacturing, and transportation are highly affected by data breaches. In fact, between 2021 and 2022, 5,212 global businesses experienced confirmed data loss. This is not a new trend, as data old and new has been leaked, destroyed, or stolen throughout history. It started with tragedies like the loss of the Royal Library of Ashurbanipal, and shows no signs of stopping anytime soon as we venture further into a heavily digital world.
