1 in 10 Data Breaches Affect Finance Sector, ICO Data Reveals

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As National Computer Security Day approaches on 30th November, latest ICO data reveals the finance, insurance and credit sector is one of the top offenders for data breaches.

Leading UK data breach solicitors, Hayes Connor, have uncovered the industries most affected by data breaches. This comes after analysing the ICO’s ongoing data security report.

The findings revealed the sectors with the highest percentage of data breaches since 2019. They are:

  • Health, 19%
  • Education & Childcare, 14%
  • Retail & Manufacture, 9%
  • Local Government, 9%
  • Finance, Insurance & Credit, 9%
  • Legal, 8%
  • General Business, 7%
  • Charitable & Voluntary, 5%
  • Central Government, 4%
  • Land or Property Services, 4%

Joining 3rd with the finance, insurance, and credit sector is local government and retail, all making up just under 1 in 10 cases. This amounts to around 2,929 data breaches within each of the 3rd place sectors, out of the total 32,541 data breaches since 2019. At the top was the healthcare sector, making up almost 1 in 5 cases.

In the finance, insurance and credit sector, it’s taking over 72 hours to report 37% of their data breaches, which is against ICO regulations and is leaving the sector vulnerable to large fines.

Christine Sabino, Legal Director at Hayes Connor, said, “What’s concerning is the public puts a lot of trust in industries such as the health, government, and education sectors, with the expectation that their data is going to be handled securely. With so many of these data breaches being caused by human error, it’s very clear that these industries are in dire need of data handling training, at the very least.”