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Data breaches in the U.S. hit a new mid-year record, according to a report by the Identity Theft Resource Center and CyberScout.
The 791 breaches so far in 2017 are a 29% jump over the same period in 2016 and puts the number of breaches on pace to top 1,500, according to the ITRC.
According to the report, hacking, which includes phishing, ransomware or malware and skimming attacks, was the leading cause of data breaches in the first half of 2017.
Within the hacking category, phishing was involved in nearly half (48%) of these attacks, while ransomware or malware was used in 19% of the attacks.
The figures showed the second leading cause of a breach was employee error at 9%.
In the medical/healthcare industry, the number of data breaches dropped 8% in the first half of 2017 compared to the prior year.
“All these trends point to the need for businesses to take steps to manage their risk, prepare for common data breach scenarios, and get cyber insurance protection,” Matt Cullina, CEO of CyberScout, said in a statement.
Since 2005, there have been almost 7,700 data breaches which have exposed more than 900 million records in the U.S., according to the resource center.
