Understanding Data Breach from a Global Perspective: Incident Visualization and Data Protection Law Review

Gabriel Arquelau Pimenta Rodrigues, André Luiz Marques Serrano, Amanda Nunes Lopes Espiñeira Lemos, Edna Dias Canedo, Fábio Lúcio Lopes de Mendonça, Robson de Oliveira Albuquerque, Ana Lucila Sandoval Orozco and Luis Javier García Villalba ()
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Gabriel Arquelau Pimenta Rodrigues: Professional Post-Graduate Program in Electrical Engineering (PPEE), Department of Electrical Engineering (ENE), University of Brasília (UnB), Brasília 70910-900, Brazil
André Luiz Marques Serrano: Professional Post-Graduate Program in Electrical Engineering (PPEE), Department of Electrical Engineering (ENE), University of Brasília (UnB), Brasília 70910-900, Brazil
Amanda Nunes Lopes Espiñeira Lemos: Graduate Program in Law (PPGD), Law School, University of Brasilia (UnB), Brasília 70910-900, Brazil
Edna Dias Canedo: Professional Post-Graduate Program in Electrical Engineering (PPEE), Department of Electrical Engineering (ENE), University of Brasília (UnB), Brasília 70910-900, Brazil
Fábio Lúcio Lopes de Mendonça: Professional Post-Graduate Program in Electrical Engineering (PPEE), Department of Electrical Engineering (ENE), University of Brasília (UnB), Brasília 70910-900, Brazil
Robson de Oliveira Albuquerque: Professional Post-Graduate Program in Electrical Engineering (PPEE), Department of Electrical Engineering (ENE), University of Brasília (UnB), Brasília 70910-900, Brazil
Ana Lucila Sandoval Orozco: Professional Post-Graduate Program in Electrical Engineering (PPEE), Department of Electrical Engineering (ENE), University of Brasília (UnB), Brasília 70910-900, Brazil
Luis Javier García Villalba: Group of Analysis, Security and Systems (GASS), Department of Software Engineering and Artificial Intelligence (DISIA), Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering, Office 431, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM), Calle Profesor José García Santesmases, 9, Ciudad Universitaria, 28040 Madrid, Spain

Data, 2024, vol. 9, issue 2, 1-24

Abstract: Data breaches result in data loss, including personal, health, and financial information that are crucial, sensitive, and private. The breach is a security incident in which personal and sensitive data are exposed to unauthorized individuals, with the potential to incur several privacy concerns. As an example, the French newspaper Le Figaro breached approximately 7.4 billion records that included full names, passwords, and e-mail and physical addresses. To reduce the likelihood and impact of such breaches, it is fundamental to strengthen the security efforts against this type of incident and, for that, it is first necessary to identify patterns of its occurrence, primarily related to the number of data records leaked, the affected geographical region, and its regulatory aspects. To advance the discussion in this regard, we study a dataset comprising 428 worldwide data breaches between 2018 and 2019, providing a visualization of the related statistics, such as the most affected countries, the predominant economic sector targeted in different countries, and the median number of records leaked per incident in different countries, regions, and sectors. We then discuss the data protection regulation in effect in each country comprised in the dataset, correlating key elements of the legislation with the statistical findings. As a result, we have identified an extensive disclosure of medical records in India and government data in Brazil in the time range. Based on the analysis and visualization, we find some interesting insights that researchers seldom focus on before, and it is apparent that the real dangers of data leaks are beyond the ordinary imagination. Finally, this paper contributes to the discussion regarding data protection laws and compliance regarding data breaches, supporting, for example, the decision process of data storage location in the cloud.

Keywords: compliance; data breach; data protection regulation; information security; privacy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C8 C80 C81 C82 C83 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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