If you’re bummed about the data in your department that just got breached, you have some cold comfort. Although the combined number of reported data breaches in the government and the military has dropped in 2009 compared to last year, many more records were compromised in those breaches, according to recent figures compiled by a California nonprofit.
As of Tuesday, Dec. 1., the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) reported 82 breaches in U.S. government and military organizations. Although the year isn’t over, that’s fewer than the 110 that occurred in 2008.
But here’s the catch: The breaches so far in 2009 have compromised more than 79 million records, whereas fewer than 3 million were hacked in 2008. A sobering upswing, to say the least.
Security Debrief is a blog dedicated to homeland security, terrorism and counter-terrorism, intelligence and law enforcement that provides context to the debates, policies and politics that are playing out in Washington, D.C.
