Cyberattacks Increasingly Threaten Companies: What Information Are Hackers Targeting?

Cyberattacks by hackers have become a global issue threatening all countries, including companies. According to an Audit Analytics report in May 2020, at least nine types of company information are most frequently targeted by hackers.

The Audit Analytics report revealed that the most commonly hacked information in 2019 included individual data and company financial information. 48% of companies reported that names were the most frequently stolen information, followed by addresses (29%) and email addresses (28%).

Furthermore, company financial information is also a prime target for hackers. Company financial data such as payment cards (23%) or debit and bank accounts (8%) are also frequently targeted.

Several global companies have experienced data breaches. Some of these include Yahoo, which lost 3 billion data records, followed by First American Financial Corporation, which experienced a data breach of 885 million records.

The type of data stolen can affect market reaction to a company's security issues. Investors tend to penalize companies that lose financial data due to cyberattacks.