Another Reason to Use MySudo: Data Breaches Hit Record High in 2021

Feb 14, 2022 | Privacy Tips

In yet another argument for the value of using the all-in-one privacy app MySudo, publicly reported data breaches in the US hit a record high of 1,862 incidents in 2021 – a 68 percent increase over 2020, and a 23 percent increase over the last record high set in 2017.

The data comes from the non-profit Identity Theft Resource Center’s 16th Annual Data Breach Report, which also shows the number of data breaches involving sensitive information like SSNs rose to 83 percent in 2021 from 80 percent in 2020. 

Incidence of ransomware attacks doubled in both 2020 and 2021, putting ransomware on track to surpass phishing as the main cause of data compromises in 2022.

Cyberattacks were the main cause of leaked and breached data in 2021; in fact, there were more cyberattack-related data compromises (1,603) in 2021 than all data compromises put together in 2020 (1,108).

While every sector except military reported data breaches, some industries were hard particularly hit: the manufacturing and utilities sector experience a 217 percent increase in data compromises over 2020. 

Interestingly, the number of victims of data breaches continued its downward trend of the past few years, dropping 5 percent on 2020 figures, which is a result of criminals targeting more specific data types rather than mass data acquisition.

In releasing the report, ITRC president and CEO Eva Velasquez said: “The number of breaches in 2021 was alarming. Many of the cyber-attacks committed were highly sophisticated and complex, requiring aggressive defenses to prevent them. If those defenses failed, too often we saw an inadequate level of transparency for consumers to protect themselves from identity fraud.”

MySudo can protect you against data breaches 

When you use the same phone number and email to sign up, download and buy online, you leave behind data trails or digital exhaust that is full of your personal and often highly sensitive information, such as your name, address, social security number, and credit card information. Companies trade on this data and criminals can steal it. And that’s exactly what happens with a data breach: criminals use various means to access stored data and use it to commit crimes such as identity theft and credit card fraud. 

The value of MySudo is you use secure digital profiles or identities called Sudos, instead of your own personal information. Sudos are intentionally different from your personal identity. You assign each of your Sudos (you can have up to 9 in the app) a working phone number, handle, email, and virtual card for online purchases, plus you get a dedicated private browser for searching completely ad and tracker free. 

You give each of your Sudo profiles a purpose, like shopping online, selling secondhand goods, or booking local services, then every time you need to make a call, send a text or email, browse for a product or pay online in a particular context such as online shopping, you use your Sudo profile information instead of your personal information. This not only protects your sensitive personal information, it unlocks the real power of the Sudo which is compartmentalization, the separation or siloing of your information online so that if one account is breached, the others are safe. 

Learn more: 

What is a data breach?

What to do if you’ve been caught in a data breach


Photo by: Rawpixel.com

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Plans start at USD 0.99 a month.
Try SudoFree today.

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