NATIONWIDE - Data breaches in 2019 hit companies and their clients very hard.
- 5,183 data breaches worldwide in 2019
- 1,692 incidents in U.S. alone
- Estimated 8.5 billion records jeopardized because of breaches
On Monday, Wyze Labs, makers of smart cameras and connected home gadgets, confirmed a data breach affecting 2.4 million customers.
It's harder for consumers to protect against data breaches like this because it's the corporation having a vulnerability that exposes their clients' online data.
In fact, research firm Risk Based Security studied data breaches for the year and reported 2019 is living up to being “the worst year on record.”
In the first nine months of the year, the firm tracked 5,183 breaches worldwide exposing 7.9 billion records.
That's up 33 percent compared to 2018.
They estimate it could reach as high as 8.5 billion jeopardized records by the end of 2019.
Companies in the U.S. suffered nearly 1,700 data breaches.
Some of the most notable this year, as reported by CNET’s 2019 Data Breach Hall of Shame report, included hackers who accessed Marriott's records such as credit card numbers and even the passports of 383 million guests, back in January.
In April, Facebook alerted the public of 540 million records exposed because they put them in unprotected servers.
And in September, 218 million Words with Friends player accounts were affected in a hack.