Start your day with intelligence. Get The OODA Daily Pulse.

Nation state actors, affiliates behind increasing amount of data breaches

The latest version of Verizon’s Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) shows that a growing number of data breaches is the result of attacks by state-backed hackers. In the 2018 report, these actors caused just 12% of data breaches, but this number almost doubled to 23% this year. Organized cybercrime remained the top threat actor category, accounting for 39% of data breaches.

The report also found that hacking was used in just over half (52%) of breaches, while one-third (33%) involved social engineering; over a quarter (28%) involved malware; and more than one in five (21%) were caused by errors. The most common motivations behind breaches were financial gain (71%) and strategic gain through cyber espionage (25%).

Read more: Nation state actors, affiliates behind increasing amount of data breaches