Washington sets record for data breaches and ransomware attacks, says AG Ferguson
So far in 2021, 6.3 million notices of data breaches have been sent to Washingtonians — by far the largest number since Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s office began tracking this.
The number of data breaches reported to Ferguson’s office also skyrocketed to 280, blowing past the previous record of 78 and last year’s total of 60, according to the report.
The previous record for breach notices was set in 2018, with 3.5 million notices sent, the report says.
The report also identifies a tremendous spike in cyberattacks and a growing threat from ransomware incidents, a type of cyberattack that uses malicious code to hold data hostage in hopes of receiving a ransom payment. More than 150 ransomware incidents were recorded in 2021 — more than the previous five years combined, according to the report.
Tags