Even though convenient, our reality makes us more exposed than ever. All due to the ever-growing smartness around us. How endangered are we?

In the era of IoT and smart solutions, it was only a matter of time before security breaches started to take place on a daily basis. However, how bad is it? Gemalto’s Breach Level Index answers all our questions.

In 2016 alone there were around 1,4 billion records breached which makes it around 3,8 million a day, 158 000 an hour, 2 700 breaches a minute and 44 a second!

In comparison, in 2015 there were ‘only’ 708 million records breached, so the number of attacks almost doubled.

Since 2013, hackers managed to steal almost 7 billion data records and the figure is growing by every second. And the industry that got the most hits is the IT sector, with almost 2,5 billion data records stolen. It is followed by the retail with almost 839 million hits and the government with 813 million.

Last year, identity thefts were the dominant type of crime (59%). It is not a secret, that with this number of smart devices and sensors around us, this aspect will surely stay on the top. The types of data that were targeted included: financial access (18%), account access (11%), nuisance (8%) and existential data (4%).

How to prevent such crimes from happening?

Rapid development and connectivity have played a major role in our lives for a few years now. However, their presence became more significant in the last decade which is clearly visible in more and more enterprises needing a new security approach to protect their data.

Keeping up with advancements and getting over security hurdles is crucial to prevent data breaches from happening. Yet, it is easier said than done since new innovations with even more advanced software enter our market every day.

However, there are certain rules that should be obeyed to be safer. Gemalto stresses 3 staples when it comes to security: control and authentication of users, encryption of sensitive data and better management of the encrypted keys – all may seem simple but serve as a foundation for all IT security measures that may be introduced.

It will probably never be possible to fully stop security breaches, especially in the era of IoT solutions. Nevertheless, knowing the statistics, and taking a proper action, we can try to limit the problem, slowly but surely taking care of our systems from the ground up.