The latest study by cybersecurity company Surfshark ranks India as the 10th most breached country globally in Q3 2023, with 369k leaked accounts. India ranks 3rd in Asia for the number of leaked accounts in the third quarter (after China and Malaysia). Globally, a total of 31.5 million accounts were breached, with the US ranking first and amounting to 26% of all breaches from July through September. Russia takes second place, while France is third, followed by China and Mexico. There is a 4 times decrease in breached users worldwide compared to Q2 2023. Europe was the most affected region by data breaches, followed by North America and Asia.
Surfshark’s analysis of data breaches in Q3 2023 shows India is in 10th place globally with 369k leaked accounts (previously ranked 7th with 1.4M in Q2 2023). The breach rate is 74% lower in Q3 2023 than it was in Q2 2023. Around 3 Indian user accounts were leaked every minute in Q3 2023.
The data breach trend in India has taken a positive turn throughout the three quarters of 2023 so far. India dropped from the 7th to the 10th position between Q2 and Q3. However, India remains one of the most breached countries in the world, despite the decrease in leaked accounts.
Global data from Surfshark’s data breach statistics update (Q3 2023) shows 31.5M leaked accounts, with the US 1st in the world (8.1M), followed by Russia (7.1M), France (1.6M), China (1.5M), and Mexico (1.2M). Globally, data breaches decreased more than four times compared to the previous quarter, from 17 to 4 user accounts leaked every second in Q3 2023.
“The third quarter of 2023 shows a general decrease in data breach count. Yet every minute, over 240 online accounts were compromised globally, exposing sensitive information to malicious actors,” says Agneska Sablovskaja, Lead Researcher at Surfshark. “We recommend a vigilant approach by maintaining accounts only on actively used platforms and implementing two-factor authentication for enhanced security.”
Europe was the most affected region by breaches in Q3 2023, followed by North America and Asia
In Q3 2023, Europe’s data breaches decreased four times, dropping from 48.1M in Q2 2023 to 10.9M in Q3 2023. To put this into perspective, 1 in 2.9 accounts breached in Q3 2023 originated from Europe, with 65% of these being Russian.
North America accounts for 30% of the quarter’s breaches (9.5M). North America’s breaches dropped 82% in Q3 2023 compared to the previous quarter.
An additional 12% of the accounts originated from Asia (3.8M). All other regions comprised less than 8% of the quarter’s total, and almost 15% remain unknown. Out of all regions, Oceania saw the greatest quarter-over-quarter decrease — 91%, bringing its total of 3.3M leaked accounts in Q2 2023 down to 289.6k in Q3 2023.
In descending order, the ten most breached countries of Q3 2023 were the US, Russia, France, China, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Malaysia, the UK, and India.
The countries with the highest breach density (number of leaked accounts per 1,000 residents): Russia (49), France (25), the US (24), Colombia (15), Malaysia (14), Trinidad and Tobago (14), Denmark (10), Switzerland (10), Peru (10) and Jamaica (10).
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