2017 — Year in review
Years are assigned by disclosure date, falling back to discovery, then occurrence date.
Breach Census recorded 411 confirmed incidents in 2017. That is up from 289 in 2016, a rise of 122 incidents (42.2%). 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.
Professional Services was the most common sector, with 4 of the 12 incidents that had a sector assigned. The most common attack type among incidents with one recorded was Malware Deployment, in 32 incidents.
The most-reported jurisdictions were US-CA (284), US-WA (83), and US-WI (43).
By sector
| Sector | Confirmed incidents |
|---|---|
| Unclassified | 399 |
| Professional Services | 4 |
| Retail | 3 |
| Manufacturing | 2 |
| Finance | 1 |
| Hospitality | 1 |
| Healthcare | 1 |
Top jurisdictions
| Jurisdiction | Confirmed incidents |
|---|---|
| US-CA | 284 |
| US-WA | 83 |
| US-WI | 43 |
| US-DE | 1 |
Questions and answers
How many confirmed data breaches were disclosed in 2017?
Breach Census recorded 411 confirmed data breach incidents for 2017, assigned by disclosure date, falling back to discovery, then occurrence date.
Which sector reported the most breaches in 2017?
Professional Services reported the most confirmed breaches in 2017, with 4 of the 12 incidents that had a sector assigned.