$12B in Fraud Loss Came from Data Breach Victims in 2016

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crime | hacking | security

Three-quarters of the total fraud losses for 2016 arose from victims who had been victims of a data breach within the previous six years.

Data breach victims are likely to someday become victims of fraud. Of the $16 billion in total fraud loss for 2016, $8.3 billion came from victims who had experienced a breach in the past 12 months and $12 billion arose from victims who had breached in the previous six years.

These findings come from a Javelin Advisory Services report entitled “2017 Data Breach Fraud Impact Report: Going Undercover and Recovering Data.” Researchers discovered the proportion of breach victims who became fraud victims rose to 31.7%, the highest rate in six years.

Javelin claims its findings underscore the longevity of breached data and the interconnectedness between breaches and fraud. Increasingly smaller financial institutions are becoming aware of the Internet’s criminal underground and monitoring the dark Web for mentions of their brand and customers.

The companies with the most mature threat intelligence operations are those acknowledging criminal campaigns. Some operators have infiltrated online criminal groups, and some have paid for data claimed to be stolen. Some buy malware and crime kits directly from threat actors to analyze different malware strains for the purpose of defending against them.

Researchers found the most common type of breached data are credit and debit cards, which were compromised among 44% and 26% of breach victims, respectively, within the past 12 months. Thirteen percent of victims had their Social Security number compromised.