No One Is Safe From the Data Breach Epidemic (Infographic) In today's digitally connected world, there's a good chance your information has been exposed at some point.
By Rose Leadem
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
From Equifax to Yahoo, hacks and data breaches are becoming a recurring part of our lives.
Related: Hacking Doomsday: Your Cyberattack Survival Checklist
According to research from Truthfinder and Experian, there have been more than 8,600 data breaches between 2005 and 2018, which have resulted in more than a billion personal records exposed. A majority of these records are from hacks on businesses. The first data breach that exposed more than a million records, including people's names and credit card numbers, was on the shoe company DSW in March of 2005. Since then, these attacks have become more and more common.
Related: 6 Tips to Stop Hackers from Stealing Your Data and Your Business
If you think your information is secure, think again. You've likely been exposed in a number of incidents. Just take a look at last year's Equifax breach, where the information of more than 145.5 million people was exposed, including credit card numbers and social security numbers. In 2015, the health insurance company Anthem Blue Cross was hacked and 78.8 million records were exposed.
To learn more about the data breach epidemic, check out the infographic below.