Data breaches hit 471M victims in first half of 2026

Data breaches reported in the first half of 2026 have already surpassed the total number of victim notices issued in all of 2025, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center. The nonprofit, which tracks publicly reported compromises, counted more than 471 million victim notices between January and June 2026, compared with 297.5 million for the full year 2025. A single incident at the education tool Canvas accounted for 275 million of those notices.

The number of security incidents also climbed, reaching 1,803 in the first half of 2026, up from 1,732 in the same period a year earlier. If the pace continues, the final 2026 tally could exceed the 3,321 incidents reported for all of 2025. James Lee, president of the ITRC, said the upward trend shows no sign of slowing.

The rise comes as artificial intelligence makes it easier to exploit system vulnerabilities. Between March 2025 and February 2026, one in four breaches was AI-enabled, a 56% increase from the prior year, according to a study from IBM. Companies are responding: 93% of public company audit committees rank cybersecurity among their top three priorities, per a 2025 Deloitte and Center for Audit Quality survey, and 78% of global executives told PwC last October they would increase cybersecurity budgets over the next 12 months.

The ITRC report also flagged a jump in malicious insider events—21 in the first half of 2026, up from three in all of 2025. Lee attributed part of the increase to disgruntled laid-off employees stealing data on their way out. The report also points to North Korean remote IT workers placed in U.S. businesses using stolen identities, deepfake videos, and AI-generated resumes, a scam flagged by the FBI as a major driver of insider attacks.

Only 24% of breach notices sent to consumers in the first half of 2026 included details of the incident, down from 93% in 2021. Lee said court cases may have led companies to include only what is legally required, which varies by state. For consumers, experts recommend reviewing credit reports weekly for free at AnnualCreditReport.com, signing up for credit monitoring, placing fraud alerts, or freezing credit at Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion to prevent fraudulent accounts.