'Dramatic' rise in US data breaches

Barclay Simpson - leaders in information security recruitment

Reported data breaches among financial companies in the United States rocketed by 47 per cent last year to break the 650 barrier, according to the latest figures from the Identity Theft Resource Centre (ITRC).

In its Breach Report 2008, the organisation looked at reported breaches in five categories - data on the move, accidental exposure, insider theft, hacking and subcontractors.

In a warning for UK firms, the study said that while the financial, banking and credit industries have been most proactive in addressing data protection, there are indications that many information security breaches occur because of a lack of proper protections.

The ITRC study said just 2.4 per cent of breaches involved data with encryption or other forms of "strong protection".

Furthermore, only 8.5 per cent of the cases concerned data that was password protected.

"It is obvious that the bulk of breached data was unprotected by either encryption or even passwords," the ITRC said.

The organisation warned that subcontractor data breaches can be particularly damaging, as they can affect "dozens" of companies.

Established in 1999, the ITRC is a non-profit body that works to improve awareness of identity theft.

Search for information security jobs