A Data breach occurs when a cybercriminal successfully infiltrates a data source and extracts sensitive information. This can be done physically by accessing a computer or network to steal local files or by bypassing network security remotely. The latter is often the method used to target companies.

Data breaches have witnessed a major surge this year with cyber criminals stealing around 200 million data in the first quarter, a whopping 233 per cent rise over the year-ago period, a report by SafeNet said today.According to data protection solutions firm SafeNet’s Breach Level Index (BLI), records stolen during the quarter equals about 93,000 records stolen every hour.