- New Proton research finds 71% of data breaches affect firms with under 250 employees
- Findings come from its new Proton Data Breach Observatory
- Hundreds of billions of compiled records have already been impacted so far in 2025
New research from Proton has identified almost 800 verified data breaches in 2025 so far, leading to over 300 million individual records being exposed.
Its data suggests over 1,500 breaches have affected companies in 2025 if compilations are included, with hundreds of billions of records compromised. Unfortunately, those who can afford breaches least are small businesses, but they are the most targeted.
Companies with between 10-49 and 50-249 employees made up 48% of breach incidents, and firms with fewer than 10 made up a further 23% – meaning the vast majority of incidents (71%) affected firms with under 250 workers.
Retail at risk
Unsurprisingly, especially for British readers, retail and wholesale traders are the most frequently targeted industry, accounting for just over 25% of breaches. 2025 has seen a string of high-profile cyberattacks on UK retailers, with the Coop and M&S attack reportedly costing around £300m to recover from.
The most commonly compromised form of personally identifiable information is email addresses – the very basic information most sites collect when users sign up – featuring in 100% of exposures.
Similarly, names (90%) and contact information like phone numbers (72%) are also common components. Less frequently but more seriously, passwords appear in 49% of incidents, and sensitive information like health or government records feature in 34% of breaches.
The findings were discovered following the launch of Proton’s Data Breach Observatory, a resource which monitors and reports breaches and cyberattacks based on dark web data.
Whilst the figures may not seem like a lot – the ‘hundreds of billions’ of exposed records signal that pretty much all of us have had our information compromised – most of us a few times over.
The primary danger with these breaches is the risk of identity theft – as criminals will use your information to take out loans or credit cards.
We always advise vigilance and continuous monitoring of accounts and bank statements to ensure that nothing is out of place. You can also check if your information has featured in any breaches using notification site Have I Been Pwned, so you can use this to assess your exposure.
The best ID theft protection for all budgets
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/Dtd9CSn6K6jfEdpnzch4zj-2121-80.jpg
Source link
