Following up on last year’s report “The Rising Threat to Consumer Data in the Cloud”, Apple has shared a new study from MIT’s Dr. Madnick that looks at how cyber threats are growing worldwide. Read on for a look at the state of online security and what we can do to limit our exposure and risk like using Apple’s Advanced Data Protection.
Apple shared the new security study titled “The Continued Threat to Personal Data:
Key Factors Behind the 2023 Increase” in a Newsroom post this morning.
As shown in this year’s report, the increasing digitalization of users’ personal and professional lives has fueled a dramatic rise in data breaches. Each year, thousands of data breaches expose the personal information of hundreds of millions of consumers. Hackers are evolving their methods and finding more ways to defeat security practices that once held them back. Consequently, even organizations with the strongest possible security practices are vulnerable to threats in a way that wasn’t true just a few years ago.
The big takeaways from Dr. Madnick’s 2023 security study are:
- Data breaches impacting US organizations are already at “an all-time high,” as there were more breaches in the first three quarters of 2023 than in any prior year
- Organizations across the globe have been targeted by cybercriminals this year, with those based in the UK, the US, Australia, and Canada targeted most frequently
- The threat is increasing not only in the English-speaking world. For example, in the first quarter of 2023, ransomware activity in the Middle East increased by 77% compared to the same period in 2022
Here’s a look at more detailed statistics:
The report also digs into the current state and evolution of ransomware, vendor exploitation, and more.
In conclusion, Dr. Madnick says “Limiting the amount of readable consumer data retained by organizations is one of the most effective ways to protect consumers.”
And using end-to-end encryption is an important way to protect user data. Dr. Madnick highlights that many companies started using or expanded their use of end-to-end encryption like Apple’s Advanced Data Protection.
You can read the full 20-page report here.
How to turn on Advanced Data Protection for your Apple devices
Apple first launched Advanced Data Protection (ADP) at the end of 2022, but since all of your Apple devices needed to be running the latest software, many people likely didn’t enable the feature right away.
As a refresher, end-to-end encryption (E2E) was already present for Apple’s Messages, iCloud Keychain, Health data, and more for years (and is the default).
But turning on ADP brings E2E to your Messages Backup (Messages in iCloud) your iPhone iCloud backup, iCloud Drive, Notes, Photos, Reminders, Safari Bookmarks, Siri Shortcuts, Voice Memos, and Wallet Passes.
Check out our full guide on how to enable Advanced Data Protection:
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