Sources of Data Loss

The two blog entries below include charts from the magazine Digital Transactions (to give credit where credit is due). The April issue, where they appear, also included the chart below, which is an enlightening look at the how credit card data goes missing.

Only 14% of data breaches (presumably of the total number of incidents, not the total amount of data) were from hacking. Just over ten percent (11%) was from "Web Access," although it is unclear how this differs from "hacking." But the other 75% of the lost data was attributed to everything from insecure waste disposal ("dumpster diving") to stolen computers (3%).

Speaking of dumpster diving, the Open Security Foundation, which is the source of the data in the chart, shows on its own website a litany of recently reported data leaks from data disposed of -- unshreded -- in dumpsters. That's an astounding situation in today's environment....