Most Data Breaches Have Unknown Causes As Transparency Continues To Fall
HelpNet Security, Thursday, July 24th, 2025
The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) reports 1,732 publicly disclosed data breaches in H1 2025, marking a 5% increase over the same period in 2024. The ITRC could track a record number of compromises in 2025 if the current data breach trend continues through Q3 and Q4.
Data breaches show no signs of slowing in H1 2025
The number of victim notices in H1 2025 (165,745,452) represents only 12% of the victim notices issued by mid-year 2024. The decrease is due in part to fewer people being impacted by the small handful of mega breaches in 2025 compared to 2024. Cyberattacks were the primary cause of data breaches where personal information was stolen (1,348 incidents reported, leading to 114,582,621 victim notices).
The number of data breach notices without information about the root cause of the attack jumped from 65% in H1 2024 to 69% in the first six months of 2025, a data breach trend that has continued for nearly the last five years.