Over several years, thanks in part to a steady stream of headline-grabbing incidents and lawsuits, the term “data breach” has gone from relative obscurity to part of the average person’s vernacular. The number of breaches, whether caused by a negligent or disgruntled employee or an international hacker, has climbed over the years, as has the interest of regulators and class action lawyers. Most states and more and more countries have enacted laws to protect private information and to regulate an affected entity’s response to a breach. The last few years also have seen entities creating and storing data at a record pace and becoming more reliant on third party vendors and cloud providers to help manage and secure their data. All these factors have led to a frightening data breach perfect storm.
But what can we expect going forward? Experian Data Breach Resolution, armed with knowledge developed by working on thousands of breach responses for clients, offers predictions in its 2014 Data Breach Industry Forecast white paper. According to its vice president, Michael Bruemmer, the number of data breaches both experienced and reported are expected to continue to rise in 2014, with healthcare, energy, financial services, retail and telecom industries continuing to be top targets. “Over the past year alone, we’ve undoubtedly seen a growing occurrence of breaches, impacting millions of customers worldwide,” Bruemmer said. “Pair this with new security threats and regulations, all signs are pointing to 2014 being a critical year for companies to better prepare for and respond to data breaches.”
