Payment card data theft jumps five-fold

Well north of 740 million records were exposed in 2013, making it the worst year in terms of data breaches recorded. That's a very conservative number derived by analyzing approximately 500 breaches listed on the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse Chronology Data Base, according to the Online Trust Alliance.

That list is comprised of publicly disclosed data breaches and includes the 40 million records Target disclosed losing on Dec 13. Target's official estimate is now up to 110 million. And many of the breach cases listed for 2013 show an unknown or undisclosed number of records taken. So 740 million is a low number. "Consumers and businesses are both victims of rapidly escalating hacking attacks, and as stewards of consumer data it's incumbent on businesses to adopt best practices to help protect consumers from harm," says Craig Spiezle, executive director and president of the Online Trust Alliance. "Companies that fail to do so need to be held accountable." Even so, the Clearinghouse's tally shows a five-fold Increase in credit card and social security numbers lost, year over year. But here's the real kicker: the OTA has determined that fully 89 percent of breaches were avoidable if basic security controls and best practices been enforced.