In the third quarter of 2023, India experienced approximately 3.7 lakh online account breaches, averaging about three breaches per minute, as reported by the cybersecurity firm Surfshark, based in the Netherlands.
A breached account refers to the exposure of sensitive information to unauthorized third parties. In the study by Surfshark, each leaked email address used for online service registration is considered a breach.
During the third quarter (July to September) of this year, India witnessed 369,093 breaches, ranking tenth globally for the highest number of breached accounts, as reported by the cybersecurity firm.
Nevertheless, this number was 74% lower than the 1,403,459 breaches documented in the second quarter (April to June) of 2023, when India held the seventh position for the most breached accounts globally.
During Q3 2023, the nations with the highest number of breached accounts were the United States (8,102,445), Russia (7,102,845), and France (1,620,815). Additionally, China, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Malaysia, and the United Kingdom all surpassed India in the count of breached accounts.
In breach density, which measures leaked accounts per 1,000 residents, India secured the 108th position globally. The leading countries in breach density were Russia, France, and the United States.
Globally, the number of breached users saw a 76% decrease in the third quarter as compared to the second. Europe had the highest number of account breaches, followed by North America and Asia.
