30.08.12
Data breaches in UK increased significantly since 2007
The number of data breaches in the UK have increased by more than 1,000% in the past five years, figures obtained from the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) show.
Since 2007, data breaches in local government have increased by 1,609%. In other public sector organisations the number rose by 1,380% and for the private sector it increased by 1,159%.
Central Government saw breaches increase by 132%, the data shows, and the average increase across all sectors was 1,014% over the last five years.
From November 2007 to November 2008, local governments reported just 11 data breaches, but by 2012 this figure had grown to 188.
The data was obtained through a Freedom of Information request by Imation Corp.
Nick Banks, head of EMEA and APAC at Imation Mobile Security, said: “The massive increase in data breaches in just five years is fairly startling, but perhaps more alarming is the consistent year-on-year increase in data breaches since 2007.
“Organisations must take responsibility for preventing breaches, and with so much available technology there really is no excuse for failing to adequately protect data.”
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