Data breach class actions have been increasing for years, but they're on pace to break records in 2023.

That is according to Law.com Radar, which detected 246 data breach class actions through the end of this June, about the same number during all of 2022. The monthly average of 2023 data breach class actions was 44.5 through the end of August, up from 20.6 in 2022.

Lawyers point to two reasons for the surge: A May 31 breach involving file transfer software MOVEit, which has ensnared hundreds of other organizations, many of which are named as the defendants in data breach lawsuits, and the increasing sophistication of cyberattacks.

"You have a collision of things: both the cluster breaches from file-share and other programs companies use to run their businesses, and the fact that cybercrime is on the increase," said John Yanchunis, who leads Morgan & Morgan's class action department in Tampa, Florida. He has served in leadership roles in several data breach cases, including Equifax and Yahoo, but this year, the lawsuits are flowing in unabated. "I have so many, I can't get them all on file," he said.