Data breaches have almost doubled since 2022, but what’s caused this rise?

Opinions expressed by Digital Journal contributors are their own.

Data breaches are therefore more common now than they’ve been at any point in society, meaning your information and privacy are at risk. Statista’s latest research on this topic revealed that there were 3,322 recorded data breaches in the US in 2025. This amounted to over 270 million victims – but there’s more context behind this statistic that makes it even more worrying. 

Rewind to 2022, and the same research discovered that only 1,798 data breaches were reported in the country. In just three years, this number almost doubled – and there’s every chance it could be more than double this when the 2026 findings come out next year. On the face of things, not much has changed that much in society to warrant such a substantial uptake in data breaches, so what’s caused this remarkable rise? 

The world collects more data

Even when you compare how things are to just three or four years ago, the amount of data being collected by companies all over the world is staggering. As the entire population becomes more consumed by digital technologies, the need for personal data increases. Businesses rely on consumer data to run their website, establish marketing strategies, and so on. 

However, the biggest factor of all is artificial intelligence. Investments in AI have supercharged since 2022, with massive data centers now processing more data than the human mind can comprehend. AI systems need data to learn new things and become even better. It’s why an AI chatbot today has way more capabilities than one from 2022. 

As the world becomes consumed by the obsession with data, the risks of cyberattacks will keep getting higher. The more data organizations hold, the more possibilities there are for breaches.

Data brokering is a billion-dollar industry

The surge in data collection, coupled with the absolute need for organizations to utilize people’s information, has meant that data brokering is now a billion-dollar industry. To be more precise, Grand View Research suggests that the current value of this industry sits north of 300 billion dollars. 

What this means is that there are more data brokers than there once were, with companies and individuals looking to obtain and sell data packets to people online. The issue with this is that it creates a situation where data can be obtained and sold illegally, which constitutes a breach. There’s also the concern that these data brokers have access to so much data, making them a prime target for cyber attacks. 

In fact, data brokers are behind the surge in individuals wondering, can I remove my information from the internet? People don’t like the thought of companies buying and selling their personal data, and so more and more users look to take preventative action by deleting their data from every site they’ve ever been on. If more people followed this trend, then perhaps it could go some way to cutting down the total number of data breaches – or at least reducing how many people are affected by them. 

Ransomware makes criminals a lot of money

Another industry that’s booming off the back of the world’s obsession with data is ransomware. Cybercriminals can make a shocking amount of money from data breaches because they no longer steal data. Instead, they encrypt security systems and put a ransom on them. They will only release the data to the public if the ransom isn’t paid, which leads to massive settlements as major companies can’t risk their private data being published online. 

To make matters worse, advancements in technology now make it easier for cybercriminals to do this and get away with it. It’s not like a traditional robbery or heist where the criminals leave a paper trail for the authorities to find. A lot of the time, there is no evidence for law enforcement agencies to call upon. 

The relative ease with which cybercriminals can hold companies to ransom – and the money they make from this – is one of the foremost reasons that data breaches are happening more frequently than ever before. 

More entry points for cybercriminals

Everything is connected nowadays. Businesses no longer have networks that only consist of a few computers, a printer or two, and maybe some servers. Now, every workplace is full of connected devices. There are smartphones, security cameras, industrial equipment, specific machinery, and even fridges in the office kitchen that connect to the same network. 

In daily life, these connections improve workflows and can provide businesses with more insights. Again, the emergence of artificial intelligence has made it easier for simple devices to take on new roles within organizations. As useful as these connected devices might be, they create multiple new security threats for businesses. 

Each device provides a new entry point if the right security isn’t in place. If a business is a castle, then there’s a big wall around it offering protection from outside threats. The more devices you connect to a network, the more holes there are in this big wall. It suddenly becomes a lot harder to defend because you can’t keep your eye on every entry point at once. Many experts believe that this is one of the fundamental reasons that data breaches are more common than they were three years ago. Some companies have gone from only having a few connected devices to having hundreds. 

The fact that data breaches are on the rise isn’t all that troublesome or unexpected. Most people and experts would expect more breaches to happen over time, simply because we’re utilizing more technology than ever before. The shocking thing is just how quickly the number of reported breaches has escalated in such a short space of time. To go from just over 1,700 to nearly 3,400 in three years is a worrying statistic. As you take a look at where society is now, it’s easy to identify the reasons behind this surge, but that leads to one more question: how bad is this likely to get? Only time will tell, but the worry is that this figure may keep creeping up.