CEM REPORT, ICT | Data Breaches in Nigeria increased by 61 per cent in Q1’23, an increase from 50,000 recorded in Q4’22 to 82,000 cases between January and March this year.
According to cybersecurity firm, Surfshark in the report released yesterday, the 61 per cent data breach positioned Nigeria as the 32nd in the world on the list of countries most breached by hackers.
Lead Researcher at Surfshark, Agneska Sablovskaja, said, data breaches declined globally in the first quarter of 2023 recording a total of 41.6 million accounts breached, which is almost 50 per cent less than nearly 81 million recorded in Q4’2022.
“However, the fact that over 40 million accounts were breached in just a few months is still a cause for concern. Those whose data was compromised are at an increased risk of being targeted by cybercriminals as their personal information can be utilised for phishing attacks, fraud, identity theft, and other serious cybercrimes,” he added.
According to the analysis, Russia came in first place, accounting for one-sixth of all accounts that were leaked, followed by the United States (five million), Taiwan (3.9 million), France (3.2 million), and Spain (3.2 million).
Globally, there have been 49% fewer users penetrated than in Q4 of 2012. Certain nations, such as Taiwan (21 times), Saudi Arabia (19 times), South Korea (13 times), Czechia (nine times), and Armenia (seven times), however, had tremendous expansion.
In the first quarter of 2023, breaches were most prevalent in Europe, followed by North America and Asia. Sberbank (Russia), which had 2.9 million accounts exposed, Weee! (America), with 1.1 million, and Zurich Insurance (Switzerland), with 756,700, were some of the breaches with the highest email count.
