There was a 49% increase in data breaches and a 78% increase in data records that were either stolen or lost during 2014 compared to 2013, according to the Breach Level Index. The index recorded over 1 500 major data breaches, which led to one billion data records being compromised worldwide during 2014. Seven major breaches were reported in South Africa during the year and individuals are being targeted. “We’re clearly seeing a shift in the tactics of cybercriminals, with long-term identity theft becoming more of a goal than the immediacy of stealing a credit card number,” says Tsion Gonen, vice president of strategy for identity and data protection at Gemalto. “Identity theft could lead to the opening of new fraudulent credit accounts, creating false identities for criminal enterprises, or a host of other serious crimes.
