Data breaches in Nigeria increased by 64 per cent in the first quarter of 2023, a report by Surfshark has revealed.
According to the data breaches report, Nigeria is the 32nd most breached country in the world.
Surfshark’s report shows Nigeria had 82k leaked accounts (64% higher in 2023’Q1 than it was in 2022’Q4).
Globally, data breaches declined in the first quarter of 2023, with a total of 41.6M accounts breached. This is almost 50% less than nearly 81M seen in Q4’2022.
“According to Surfshark’s study, data breaches declined globally in the first quarter of 2023 if we compare it to the previous one,” says Agneska Sablovskaja, Lead Researcher at Surfshark.
“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 utilized for phishing attacks, fraud, identity theft, and other serious cybercrimes.”
Globally, a total of 41.6 million accounts were breached at the beginning of 2023, translating into 1 account being breached every second.
Russia ranked first, amounting to a sixth of all leaked accounts, followed by the US (5m), Taiwan (3.9m), France (3.2m), and Spain (3.2m).
A 49 per cent decrease in breached users worldwide is seen compared to Q4’2022. However, some countries experienced rapid growth, such as Taiwan (21x), Saudi Arabia (19x), South Korea (13x), Czechia (9x), and Armenia (7x).
Europe was the most affected region by breaches in Q1’2023, followed by Asia and North America. All other regions comprised less than 5% of the quarter’s total.
Some of the biggest breaches by email count were Sberbank (Russia), with 2.9M accounts leaked. US with 1.1m, and Zurich Insurance (Switzerland) with 756.7K.
