Mapping of data breaches in companies listed on the NYSE and NASDAQ: Insights and implications

The Internet of Things, Smart Devices, Information Systems, and Cloud Services have led to a digital transformation of companies. Such revolution has been accompanied by a huge amount of data available for companies, posing the growing challenge of data breaches. However, data breaches are not just a concern and complication for security experts; they also affect clients, stakeholders, organizations, and businesses, as stated by the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. Thus, this study provides insights into data breaches faced by companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ. The study found that hacking/IT incidents are the forms of attack with greater impact in data breaches, followed by unauthorized internal disclosures. The frequency of data breaches, the magnitude of exposed records, and financial losses due to breached records are increasing rapidly. Data from the companies listed on the stock exchange is regarded as being highly valuable. This has become a significant lure for the misappropriation and pilferage of data. Addressing this anomaly, the paper employs statistical visualizations of the data to shed light on these incidents and assess their consequences on the affected companies and individuals whose data was compromised. This work aims to contribute to a comprehensive understanding of data breaches and empower organizations to safeguard against them proactively by conducting this multifaceted analysis, and also provides a brief qualitative risk assessment regarding the attack vectors.