2014: The year data breaches came of age

There were 783 reported data breaches in 2014, up 27.5 percent over the previous year and the most in any year of the past decade. The average cost of each of those breaches was $3.5 million, up 15 percent over 2013.

These are among the statistics highlighted in a new infographic from user behavior intelligence specialist Exabeam. Ten breaches each led to more than a million records being reported stolen, the biggest being Home Depot with 56 million records.

But whilst retail -- partly distorted by that massive Home Care figure -- accounts for the highest percentage of records stolen, it's the health care sector that accounts for the majority of breaches. Health care reported 333 breaches in 2014, accounting for 42.5 percent of the total. Retail comes second on 33 percent with government and military third on 11.7.

How breaches happen is interesting too. Whilst 29 percent were down to hacking, 15.1 percent were laid at the door of sub-contractors or third-parties, and 12.5 percent physical theft. Accidental exposure (ooops!) accounted for 11.5 percent, employee negligence 10.9 percent and insider theft 10.2 percent.

You can see the full infographic below.

Image Credit: Pavel Ignatov / Shutterstock