The latest count from the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) reports that there have been 248 data breaches recorded this year through February 28, 2017, and that over a million records have been exposed since the beginning of the year.
As if ransomware attacks have not been rising fast enough, Brian Krebs, who specializes in cybersecurity issues, reported on Wednesday that a ransomware package called “Philadelphia” is for sale for about $400 for “would-be cybercriminals who dream of carving out their own ransomware empires.”
Krebs noted especially a slick video advertisement for the package that showcases features like the ability to generate PDF reports and charts of victims to help crooks “track your malware campaigns,” among other things. It’s a one-time buy with free upgrades and no monthly fees.
The advertisement is posted at the Krebs on Security website.
The medical/health care sector leads them all in the number of records compromised so far in 2017. The sector posted 26.7% (64) of all data breaches. The number of records exposed in these breaches totaled tops 560,000, or about 51.7% of the 2017 total.
The business sector accounts for more than 640,000 exposed records in 120 incidents. That represents 50% of the incidents and 42.2% of the exposed records so far in 2017.
The educational sector has experienced 41 data breaches since the beginning of the year. It accounts for 17.1% of all breaches for the year and more than 28,000 exposed records, about 2.6% of the year’s total.
The government/military sector has suffered 13 data breaches to date in 2017, representing about 3.6% of the total number of records exposed and 5.4% of the incidents. Nearly 40,000 records have been compromised in the government/military sector.
The number of banking/credit/financial sector breaches now totals two, less than 1% of the total so far this year. No records have been reported to be compromised in the two incidents.
Since beginning to track data breaches in 2005, ITRC had counted 7,139 breaches through February 8, 2017, involving nearly 889 million records.
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