December 7, 2023
UPDATE
Report: 2.6 billion private data compromised by information breaches in previous two years — underscoring want for finish‑to‑finish encryption
An Apple-commissioned research exhibits that threats to client information saved within the cloud have grown dramatically for the reason that final report was printed in December 2022
At this time Apple printed an unbiased research carried out by Massachusetts Institute of Expertise professor Dr. Stuart Madnick that discovered clear and compelling proof that information breaches have turn into an epidemic, threatening delicate and private client information the world over. The overall variety of information breaches greater than tripled between 2013 and 2022 — exposing 2.6 billion private data prior to now two years alone — and has continued to worsen in 2023. The findings underscore that robust protections in opposition to information breaches within the cloud, like end-to-end encryption, have solely grown extra important since final yr’s report and the launch of Superior Knowledge Safety for iCloud.
This yr’s research, “The Continued Threat to Personal Data: Key Factors Behind the 2023 Increase,” demonstrates threats that had already reached historic ranges — as proven in final yr’s report, “The Rising Threat to Consumer Data in the Cloud” — proceed to rise. More and more, firms throughout the expertise trade are addressing these threats by implementing end-to-end encryption, as Apple did with final yr’s launch of Superior Knowledge Safety for iCloud.
With Superior Knowledge Safety for iCloud, which makes use of end-to-end encryption to supply Apple’s highest degree of cloud information safety, customers have the selection to additional defend necessary iCloud information even within the case of a knowledge breach. iCloud already protects 14 delicate information classes utilizing end-to-end encryption by default, together with passwords in iCloud Keychain and Well being information. For customers who allow Superior Knowledge Safety for iCloud, the overall variety of information classes protected utilizing end-to-end encryption rises to 23, together with iCloud Backup, Notes, and Pictures.
“Dangerous actors proceed to pour monumental quantities of time and sources into discovering extra inventive and efficient methods to steal client information, and we gained’t relaxation in our efforts to cease them,” stated Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vp of Software program Engineering. “As threats to client information develop, we’ll hold discovering methods to struggle again on behalf of our customers by including much more highly effective protections.”
As proven on this yr’s report, the growing digitalization of customers’ private {and professional} lives has fueled a dramatic rise in information breaches. Annually, 1000’s of knowledge breaches expose the non-public data of a whole lot of tens of millions of shoppers. Hackers are evolving their strategies and discovering extra methods to defeat safety practices that after held them again. Consequently, even organizations with the strongest potential safety practices are susceptible to threats in a means that wasn’t true just some years in the past.
The report additionally exhibits that even when shoppers take all the appropriate steps to safe their delicate information, it’s nonetheless liable to being compromised by hackers if it’s saved in a readable kind by organizations they entrust it with. For example, when trying to infiltrate firms with strong safety practices, hackers usually begin by focusing on a unique group with comparatively weak safety that has a technical enterprise relationship with the final word goal. They then steal credentials or data that helps them goal staff or methods on the group that’s their major goal.
As threats to consumer information proceed to develop extra frequent and complex, Apple’s lengthy observe file of engineering highly effective and progressive options make its merchandise probably the most safe available on the market. With Lockdown Mode, Apple developed a safety for many who could also be focused by excessive threats like mercenary spyware and adware due to who they’re or what they do. Apple’s Superior Knowledge Safety for iCloud is one other characteristic the corporate has developed to guard customers in opposition to rising threats to their information, conserving most consumer information in iCloud protected even within the case of a knowledge breach within the cloud.
The report illustrates that the historic threats to consumer information that noticed the variety of information breaches practically triple between 2013 and 2022, compromising 2.6 billion data over the course of two years, are solely getting worse in 2023. Within the U.S. alone, there have been practically 20 % extra breaches in simply the primary 9 months of 2023 than in any prior yr. The goal for cybercriminals was very clear, with a 2023 survey discovering that over 80 % of breaches concerned information saved within the cloud. That is after assaults focusing on cloud infrastructure practically doubled from 2021 to 2022.
That is due partly to the elevated focusing on of client information by ransomware gangs and coordinated campaigns that compromised distributors or their merchandise to focus on prospects. The specter of ransomware has solely grown in 2023, as proven by the actual fact that there have been practically 70 % extra assaults reported by way of September 2023 than within the first three quarters of 2022. In reality, specialists discovered that there have been extra ransomware assaults by way of September 2023 than in all of 2022 mixed. This has led to alarming developments within the U.S. and overseas, with greater than double the accounts getting breached within the first half of 2023 in comparison with the primary half of 2022 within the U.Ok., Australia, and Canada mixed.
Press Contacts
Scott Radcliffe
Apple
sradcliffe@apple.com
Apple Media Helpline
media.help@apple.com
