Data privacy and security are in a peculiar state in recent years.
Data privacy, for that matter, is not a uniquely modern-day conundrum.
Perhaps its not extreme to suggest humans have been grappling with privacy issues for as long as civilization itself.
But what price do we pay to enjoy the benefits of the information age?
And are data privacy and security practices doing enough?
To help unpack that question a little further, weve compiled100+ data privacy and data security statistics.
Well delve into the world of privacy issues, objections, risks, and regulations in this article.
Data privacy, also known as information privacy, is the area of data protection concerned with regulations.
Data securityis more about the practice of protecting data.
Data security also includes each organizations policies and procedures.
If done correctly, proper data security strategies prevent data compromise and attempts to steal data from cybercriminals.
General Stats
As you probably already know, everyone wants your data.
Companies want it, governments want it, and (worst of all) criminals want it.
Knowledge is power, after all.
Well begin with a few general statistics on the state of data protection and data collection.
We Generate a Lot of Data
Humans are generating vast quantities of data every day.
With so much data available, it makes sense for companies to capitalize.
People Want Online Security
Woah!
Easy there, tiger… Perhaps theres no better way to set the mood than with the statement above.
This points to the sorry state of online security and the desperation users have to keep their data secure.
Well, technically, it’s possible for you to, although not really.
Read this, sign this, agree to this otherwise, you cant use company Xs essential service.
How Much Data Do Companies Collect?
The amount (and key in) of personal data thats collected from you will change company-to-company.
Facebook and Instagram are 2 apps that track users more than any other.
Facebook, in particular, collects 79% of your personal data.
Whose Data Is Collected?
U.S. citizens are targeted by data collectors more than citizens of any other nation.
This should hardly be surprising, given the countrys vast population and consumer-centric culture of commerce.
Data is the key to personalization.
Data Analytics
Companies are not only collecting data to sell you more stuff.
Data can be used for analytics too.
Third-Party Sharing
Your data is also passed on to third parties.
Thats just the way things work.
Big Data = Less Secure
This corporate race for your information has given birth to big data.
Big data describes the enormous sets of data that companies now collect, store, and analyze.
The Government Accesses Your Data
When the government requests access to your data, they usually get it.
The government might want your data to help solve a crime investigation or aid a public safety incident.
Big Tech Tracks Your Web Traffic
Big tech companies are particularly interested in your data.
How Common Are Attacks on Our Data?
Attacks on our data are painfully common.
There is a hacker attack on a computer every 39s, and hackers conduct a ransomware attack every 14s.
50% of U.S. adults have suffered from malware or a virus on their personal computers (Security.org).
The Remote Work Factor
Remote work has undoubtedly affected the security and safety of our data.
COVID-19 has increased threats to your data
COVID-19 has increased the volume of cyberattacks targeting data.
Data breaches can be intentional or unintentional.
If data is exposed to the wrong kind of people, breaches can be extremely damaging too.
How Many Data Breaches Are There?
There are thousands of data breaches every year, and these incidents leak billions of customer records.
Average Size of A Breach?
Data breaches leak nearly 26,000 records on average.
Smaller breaches of personal devices might leak a handful of your records.
Mega leaks on big data stores can expose billions of customers in a single incident.
Which Data Is Targeted & Leaked?
Companies typically collect PII, and its worth a lot to cybercriminals.
The Average Breach Lifecycle
Data breaches at organizations take a long time to identify and close.
Data breach costs across different industries or even nations can differ greatly.
The USA is the nation with the highest average breach costs, at $9.05 million.
Customer PII (especially PII taken maliciously) costs businesses more because it can directly expose users to cybercrime.
Cyber Insurance Recovers Costs
Some breach costs can be recovered through cyber insurance.
75% of organizations have cyber insurance.
The total value of cyber insurance premiums around the world could reach $20 billion by 2025.
24. Who Causes Data Breaches?
Malicious actors are behind the majority of data breaches.
Malicious Motivations
What do malicious actors want with your data, exactly?
Malicious actors can have a bunch of different motivations for stealing your data.
They may need it for an activist cause, or they may target your data to disrupt another organization.
Hackers could even go after data to get information for their state.
53% of data breaches, however, are financially motivated.
This means hackers are stealing data for scams and fraud.
What Causes Data Breaches?
Hackers can utilize loads of different methods in a malicious attempt on your data.
Poor Knowledge Leads to Poor Cybersecurity Hygiene
Most employees lack basic knowledge of data privacy and security.
Companies understand that this is a big issue.
No wonder businesses are collectively spending $1 billion a year on cybersecurity awareness training.
28. Insider Threat Motivations
Businesses struggle to account for insider threats.
Ransomware Is the Prevalent Malware
Malware is a big problem.
According to Mimecast,74%of organizations have suffered a malware attack that spread between employees in 2021.
Malware is any key in of malicious software.
Ransomware can hold your data hostage until a ransom is paid.
Phishing Is Common
Phishing attacks are the most common cyberattack.
Cybercriminals can often coerce an array of personal data out of victims when posing as a trustworthy entity.
According to Avanan, harvesting your credentials was the focus of 54% of phishing attacks in 2020.
These are popular methods for hackers.
Cybercriminals can buy stolen credentials online, saving them the time and hassle of acquiring information in a hack.
Brute-force attacks input countless password and username combinations.
The Biggest Breaches
The biggest data breaches expose billions of unique customer records.
CAM4s 2020 data breach deserves a mention.
Data Risks
Your data is at risk of malicious actors, ad tracking, and data leaks.
Where is your data most vulnerable?
What systems leak data?
And what information do hackers target?
Customer data is especially vulnerable to social engineering or hacking.
41% of companies store more than 1,000 sensitive files that are accessible to every employee.
This includes credit card records, health records, and other forms of PII.
The figure is even higher for financial companies, at 64%.
Nearly 50% of internet users feel like they have no control over who sees their search terms.
Search terms can be used to judge a users preferences and personalize their online experience.
Elsewhere, medical history and phone conversations are also seen as highly sensitive data.
Whens Your Data Most at Risk?
People generally feel most secure when on the phone, either using a landline or mobile.
There are now over 4 billion social media users.
Between email and social media, 21% of users have experienced at least one cyberattack.
One of the biggest risks social media users face is account takeover.
Account takeover occurs on social media platforms more than anywhere else.
Unfortunately, IoT devices have an extremely poor level of cybersecurity.
IoT devices are set to reach 75 billion by 2025, so this needs fixing sooner than later.
Websites & Web Apps Leak Data
Websites and web apps are vulnerable to hacks too.
Almost every website is thought to have a vulnerability that could be exploited by hackers.
Website vulnerabilities are indeed regularly exploited by hackers, for that matter.
30,000 new websites are hacked daily.
Mobile Vulnerabilities
A huge portion of mobile devices could be vulnerable to cyberattacks.
Mobile Apps Are Open to Attack
Mobile apps are a prevailing threat to personal cybersecurity.
Millions of apps are thought to contain vulnerabilities, insecure configurations, or may even be harboring Trojan malware.
Mobile apps can affect data security at businesses too.
The public cloud looks as though it will continue to grow.
Over one-quarter of businesses believe 95% of their critical workloads will operate within the cloud in 5 years.
This means the cybersecurity hygiene of the public cloud is often left up to contracted companies.
Outsourced services also leave businesses open to supply-chain attacks.
Risks Outweigh Benefits
Is it all worthwhile for a few handy auto-fill forms and some personalized recommendations?
Customers overwhelmingly agree that the online comforts associated with big data are not worth the myriad of potential risks.
Feelings are less intense when it comes to Government data collection.
Public Data Privacy Perceptions
How aware are people about the security of their data?
And what other objections do people have about big data and the current state of data privacy?
Big Data Is Worrying
Data privacy and security are a constant worry for many of us.
Its fair to say those worries are justified.
Data Collection Awareness
There are loads of different ways companies can collect your data online.
However, just 4 out of 10 are aware of all of them.
Cybersecurity Technology Awareness
People are not particularly knowledgeable about cybersecurity technology, either.
Thats tough, because VPNs and antivirus software can fight back against hackers targeting your personal devices.
The Importance of Transparency
The data collection dynamic between companies and consumers hinges on the word trust.
Do customers trust that brands will keep their data safe?
Salesforce found that this trust is waning too.
54% of customers think its harder for companies to earn their trust than ever before.
Data Collection Is a Mystery
We dont honestly know what organizations are doing with our data.
Businesses typically use our data for marketing and customer experience purposes.
Governments apparently collect our data to help solve crimes.
However, judging by this survey, people arent entirely convinced.
Will Companies Act Responsibly?
Will companies even admit to misusing or exposing your data?
Most people are skeptical that businesses are prepared to admit their mistakes or be held accountable for their wrongdoings.
Unreported data breaches are even more dangerous for the exposed victims.
Thoughts of a surveillance society have become grounded in evidence ever since the release of the NSA files.
Mobile surveillance is now more fact than opinion.
The general concerns around this data apply to any form of data collection.
This perhaps explains why one-half of American adults dont think online advertisers should store their information.
Weve Already Lost Control
Your biggest data concern should be the fact weve lost control of our personal information.
Who knows whos collecting your data, and what for.
Why Cant We Protect Our Data Today?
We know users object to the mysterious uses of our data.
Should the Government Be Doing More?
Governments should be regulating data collection and use more than they already are.
Context Matters
Context matters when companies handle your data.
People cant allow companies to handle their data for every reason under the sun, however.
Especially when 41% of global consumers dont think companies care about their data (Salesforce).
Only time will tell how far users are willing to go to ensure their digital privacy.
How important are data privacy practices?
What procedures are teams using?
And which emerging security technologies are proving effective in the fight for privacy?
Strong Privacy Practices Are Important
Privacy is important.
42% of organizations believe privacy has become more critical following the onset of COVID-19.
The least common responsibility was accelerating digital transformation and digital capabilities (34%).
Failing on this front can be costly.
Compliance is the core function of privacy teams that must keep their organizations in line with regulations.
Safeguarding against attacks is only fourth on companies list of priorities.
COVID-19 Priorities
Some tasks have taken on added significance in the wake of COVID-19.
Employee privacy and new workplace safety protocols have seen the biggest jump in prioritization.
Companies are trying to secure their data as employees work remotely.
DPO Adoption
Lets talk about privacy positions.
DPOs are one of the most important leadership roles for compliance in privacy teams.
7 in 10 companies have a DPO.
1 in 10 companies outsource the DPO role while 23% have 2 DPOs.
Privacy budgets actually doubled in 2020 to reach $2.4 million on average.
Budgets grew under increased pressure from malicious actors.
Digital Transformations Reduce Breach Costs
Digital transformation can be defined as adapting and adopting IT to improve business processes.
IBM surveyed companies that have undergone digital transformations in response to the pandemic and its related pressures.
What Technologies Do Companies Purchase?
Cloud security solutions saw the biggest growth of any segment in the last year at 41.2%.
Privacy Teams: Automation Adoption
Privacy teams are automating their processes 76% of the time.
Privacy automation is any AI technology that automates privacy-related tasks.
Privacy automation reduces the chances of data mishandling and ensures compliance with privacy regulations.
Security Teams: Automation Adoption
Automation is important for cybersecurity departments too.
The majority of companies deployed security automation in 2021.
Security automation is an AI technology that instantly detects and responds to cybersecurity incidents.
Automation Reduces Breach Lifecycle & Cost
Automation is undoubtedly worthwhile when trying to protect customers data.
Security automation has a financial impact too.
Zero Trust adoption
Zero trust security systems work based on the assumption that users and/or networks are already compromised.
Its a different approach to the design and implementation of IT thats becoming more popular by the day.
Zero Trust Reduces Breach Costs
Zero trust security systems certainly succeed in lessening the impact of a data breach.
Statistics show that higher levels of zero trust deployment directly correlate with lower data breach costs.
Encryption Reduces Breach Impact
Encryption is one of the major elements of a zero-trust security architecture.
Encryption makes information unreadable unless users are properly authenticated.
Incidents Response Is Essential for Teams
Every company should have an incident response plan in place.
Companies might have a dedicated incident response team, or the responsibility could fall to privacy teams.
HTTPS Protocol Secures Website Domains
More and more businesses are adopting HTTPS protocol on their websites and web applications.
HTTPS makes websites safer by adding an extra layer of encryption to secure site communications.
HTTPS can prevent man-in-the-middle attacks, phishing attacks, and malware attacks.
However, research suggests a mixture of public and private cloud solutions could mitigate the impact of data breaches.
Privacy Spending Benefits
Of course, there are loads of monetary benefits when investing in cybersecurity procedures.
Investing in data privacy can arguably see even bigger gains.
Two-thirds of businesses claim to get trade benefits from data privacy procedures.
Are we protecting our own data enough?
And what privacy precautions and cybersecurity solutions can users implement to protect their data and devices?
Whos Responsible for Protecting Data?
45% of consumers believe the government is solely responsible for protecting data privacy.
In truth, protecting data is everyones responsibility…
79.
Still, people should be proactive about their own privacy too.
Its all well and good complaining about the state of data privacy.
More people need to learn about data privacy and security to make the correct decisions when needed.
According to Cisco, 29% of customers are already privacy activists.
42% of all consumers in Ciscos survey have switched brands to protect their data.
81. Who Do Actives Abandon?
Privacy actives are abandoning social media companies and ISPs more often than others.
What Personal Precautions Do Users Take?
Why Dont People Read Privacy Policies?
A Pew Research Center survey found that 36% of American internet users never read privacy policies before agreeing.
Thats compared to 83% of privacy actives who read privacy policies (Cisco).
Policies are often too long and convoluted, which is a big reason so many people cant be bothered.
How Do People Avoid Tracking?
There are certain precautions users take to avoid being tracked and reduce their online footprints visibility.
What Social Media Precautions Do Users Take?
Protecting Child Data
It makes sense that parents are monitoring their children online.
Who knows what privacy problems kids could experience without regulation?
Now thats parenting done right!
Why Use Antivirus Software?
82% of US internet-connected households use antivirus software.
Privacy and security are the two biggest reasons for antivirus adoption.
Antivirus software is excellent for keeping your data protected.
98% of users think antivirus software is somewhat or very effective.
In fact, antivirus programs across the globe detect 350,000 viruses every day.
VPNs were first introduced commercially way back in 1996.
Theyre now a popular measure employed by internet users who want to encrypt their internet traffic and search anonymously.
Why Use a VPN?
What are the benefits of using a VPN?
Data privacy sits at the top of the agenda.
Which nations have data protection laws?
Whats the impact of compliance and failure?
And how costly are the biggest data protection fines?
The Data Protection Map
DLA Piper looked at the regions with the most stringent data protection regulations.
Data protection laws are non-existent in some other nations.
How Many Countries Have Data Protection Laws?
Around 66% of countries currently have data protection legislation in place.
A massive 19% of nations dont have any legislation.
Most of these countries are in Africa, including Chad, Libya, Sudan, and Egypt.
77% of global businesses surveyed by the IPAA are compliant with GDPR to some degree.
Thats so important in todays age of globalization.
Whos Hot on GDPR?
Italy dishes out more GDPR fines than any other European nation.
The UK has left the EU but retains its own version of GDPR.
The UK has issued just over 40 million in fines.
The Biggest GDPR Fines
The GDPR has been criticized at times for the inadequate value of its sanctions.
There are signs that GDPR will be enforced more effectively in the future.
Amazon has appealed the decision, so we cant add it to our list just yet.
CCPA Compliance
There are no federal-level data protection laws in America.
CCPA is Californias new data protection law, which is based on the EUs GDPR.
Regulators Look Kindly on Reporters
Companies should certainly report a data breach no matter the jurisdiction theyre in.
Regulators look kindly upon companies that report data breaches.
So much so, that only 2% of these companies are fined.
The Impact of Compliance Failures
Organizations want to avoid as many compliance failures as possible.
Create Strong Passwords
you gotta confirm you create super secure passwords across all of your accounts.
That means creating passwords that contain a combination of upper and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols.
Avoid using common phrases and names and using personal dates and information (such as your birthdate).
Have separate passwords for each account too.
That way, cybercriminals cant compromise all of your accounts should they gain access to one.
Most home rig cybersecurity software will protect you against all manner of malware varieties too.
Elsewhere, encrypting the data on your gear is a good idea.
This will stop bad actors from extracting your data should you lose a gadget.
Virtual private networks (VPNs) are great as well.
VPNs encrypt your internet traffic to create a secure connection to the internet.
Update rig Software
double-check you refresh your rig software regularly.
These vulnerabilities are normally patched, so keep an eye out for any fresh updates!
Avoid any tasks that involve your personal data whenever you’re connected to free WiFi.
That means no eCommerce purchases while youre in the local cafe!
Only click a link anywhere online if you’re able to trust the source 100%.
This will mean malicious actors wont be able to gather your data when viewing your page.
Read privacy policies and Ts and Cs before you agree.
The Bottom Line
The internet is a place full of potential data privacy dangers and security threats.
Thankfully, a number of these risks can be mitigated through proper online practices and cybersecurity hygiene.
Moreover, data privacy is a developing field.
Were sure data privacy and security will get up to speed soon enough!
c’mon, comment on how to improve this article.
