In 2016, the frequency of confidential data breaches in Russia increased 80 percent compared to 2015, according to a report by the Moscow-based information security company, InfoWatch, founded by Kaspersky Lab and now controlled by Natalia Kaspersky.
In 2016, Russia registered 213 cases, which put the country in second place for data breaches, just behind the U.S. The U.K. is third, reports (in Russian) RBK.
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InfoWatch reached its conclusions by analyzing information available only in English and Russian. Even though most information was taken from English-language sources, the largest increase in breaches was observed in Russia. In the U.S. and the U.K. the number of hacks remained the same in 2015; and were 838 and 67, respectively.
"Such a sharp increase in the number of breaches in Russia may be due to the development of services that process personal data and the corresponding increase in the amount of data processed," an InfoWatch official explained.
In total, according to the results of the research, 1,556 cases of data breaches were recorded by organizations in 2016, which is 3.4 percent more than in 2015. About 93 percent of breaches are related to the theft of personal data and payment information.
Globally, the volume of compromised information increased three-fold, to 3 billion personal data records. The number of mega breaches also increased, resulting in at least 10 million records of confidential information being compromised.
InfoWatch also reported that 62 percent of breaches are an insider job, caused by current or former employees with access to such information.