Unfortunately, data loss is common, and has been for centuries. Globally, 15+ million data records were lost or stolen between January 2022 and November 2022. While data breaches happen in every country, 64% of data breaches occur in the US, making it the leading victim. Human error is the largest cause of data loss, whether it be inexperience, misclicks, or accidental deletion. Other main causes are malware and unexpected events. These culprits do not only impact governments; they also occur in many businesses. In fact, between 2021 and 2022, 5,212 global businesses experienced data loss.
Data loss is not new; there have been major data breaches stretching back thousands of years. For example, 13.7 GB of data are expected to have been lost from the Royal Library of Ashurbanipal. The Library of Alexandria is another famous example.
Data loss is certain and impacts millions of people every year. It is important to learn about the factors that cause data loss, and do what we can to arm ourselves against them.
Infographic by: nextdlp
