422 Million User Data Was Stolen In 2022: Are You Among Them?

User data safety is what all firms should think about in the 21st century. We have covered tons of articles about data theft from all kinds of firms, including Twitter, WhatsApp, Facebook, etc. The latest report by the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) not only shows the deplorable state of data safety but also gives hope. We mean the overall number of data breaches has decreased. But it is still huge.

Twitter User Data Thefts Count Half of All Cases

User data breaches have been rising for six years. But the chain was broken in 2022. In the past year, there were 42% fewer data thefts than in previous years. However, over 422 million users became victims of data breaches.

Actually, this number is much bigger. We mean many tech companies didn’t disclose many details when it comes to user data safety. Only 34% of them report attacks in detail. This has a snowball effect on the industry. As many firms do not provide details, it doesn’t allow others to make the right decisions or take proper measures. As a result, hackers get more chances to access user data.

By the way, around half of the users that suffered from data breach refers to Twitter. Data of 221 million Twitter users were stolen in 2022. The top 5 include Neopets, AT&T, Cash App, and Beetle Eye.

However, we should also point out that in most cases, the stolen data was limited to a user’s name and social security number. There were some cases when the stolen data included PII (personal identifiable information). This is what you should avoid.

We can’t claim that the trend will continue in 2023. So it’s better to take action by ourselves and protect our data rather than rely on the firms. For this, you can use two-factor authentication (2FA) or have stronger passwords.