The healthcare industry accounted for 28 percent of data breaches in 2016, however, the number of comprised health data records dropped from 2015 to 2016, according to Gemalto's Breach Level Index.
Gemalto, a Netherlands-based digital security firm, found that in 2016, 1,792 data breaches led to almost 1.4 billion data records being compromised worldwide. This represents an increase of 86 percent compared to 2015. The firm's Breach Level Index is a global database that tracks data breaches and measures their severity.
Here are eight findings from the index:
1. The leading type of data breach across all industries in 2016 was identity theft, which accounted for 59 percent of all data breaches.
2. The second most prevalent type of breach in 2016 was account access-based breaches.
3. Malicious outsiders were the primary source of data breaches, accounting for 68 percent of breaches in 2016. In 2015, malicious outsiders were responsible for only 13 percent of data breaches.
4. Hacktivist data breaches also increased by 31 percent in 2016.
5. The technology sector saw the largest increase in data breaches in 2016, with breach incidents rising 55 percent.
6. While the healthcare industry accounted for 28 percent of all data breaches in 2016, the number of compromised data records in healthcare decreased by 75 percent since 2015.
7. The education industry saw a 5 percent decrease in data breaches between 2015 and 2016.
8. Of the almost 1.4 billion records compromised, lost or stolen in 2016, only 6 percent were encrypted fully or partially.