Crypto.com and rising data breach numbers

Surprising possibly no one, the latest annual report from the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) shows that the number of data breaches rose 68% in 2021 compared to the year before.  Every industry except the military experienced an increase in the number of breaches.  Similarly, ransomware has doubled in use in each of the past two years, accounting for 22% of breaches last year.  The ITRC predicts ransomware to surpass phishing at this rate, as the primary cause of data breaches this year.

Another recent major trend, cryptocurrency, has now also entered the realm of data security news stories.  Crypto.com, one of the largest exchanges, has had a big year: buying and changing the name of the Staples Center in California, and now undergoing a massive hack in which funds were stolen from 400 accounts.  Of course, given the company’s size, the expected losses “in the millions” are not likely to inflict significant financial damage in the immediate future.  Indeed, all affected customers have already been reimbursed.  Still, most companies will not be as well secured in the event of a security incident or breach.

This incident ultimately represents a young industry’s early forays into getting hacked.  Like the ITRC’s reported increase, crypto-related cybercrime has also risen sharply, up 80% to $14 billion from 2020 to 2021.  For the time being, illicit crypto transactions account for just 0.15% of all traffic, but as with virtually everything else, I wouldn’t expect this trend to do anything but rise.

With companies everywhere hopping back and forth between office and remote working, the complications around protecting sensitive data in the network multiply exponentially.  Hackers can exploit the vast dispersion of employees and remote access to more easily slip past the defenses, just waiting for someone to make a mistake and click on something they shouldn’t.  People can be trained in good security hygiene, but all it takes it one error.  By the time this happens, it’s already too late for an organization, which will now have to scramble to mitigate the fallout to the best of its ability.  One critical step organizations must take is encrypting their data.  To that end, NetLib Security’s Encryptionizer solution encrypts stored data so that bad actors can’t do anything with it once they get inside.