2016 — Year in review
Years are assigned by disclosure date, falling back to discovery, then occurrence date.
Breach Census recorded 289 confirmed incidents in 2016. That is up from 236 in 2015, a rise of 53 incidents (22.5%). Incidents are assigned to a year by disclosure date, falling back to discovery, then occurrence date, and totals for the most recent years can still grow as new sources are confirmed and published.
Hospitality was the most common sector, with 1 of the 6 incidents that had a sector assigned. The most common attack type among incidents with one recorded was Malware Deployment, in 19 incidents.
The most-reported jurisdictions were US-CA (226), US-WA (49), and US-WI (14).
By sector
| Sector | Confirmed incidents |
|---|---|
| Unclassified | 283 |
| Hospitality | 1 |
| Manufacturing | 1 |
| Healthcare | 1 |
| Retail | 1 |
| Technology | 1 |
| Real Estate | 1 |
Top jurisdictions
| Jurisdiction | Confirmed incidents |
|---|---|
| US-CA | 226 |
| US-WA | 49 |
| US-WI | 14 |
Questions and answers
How many confirmed data breaches were disclosed in 2016?
Breach Census recorded 289 confirmed data breach incidents for 2016, assigned by disclosure date, falling back to discovery, then occurrence date.
Which sector reported the most breaches in 2016?
Hospitality reported the most confirmed breaches in 2016, with 1 of the 6 incidents that had a sector assigned.