News release: “Today, the total number of breaches in on the Identity Theft Resource Center’s (ITRC) 2008 breach list surpassed the final total of 446 reported in 2007, more than 4 months before the end of 2008. As of 9:30 a.m. August 22nd, the number of confirmed data breaches in 2008 stood at 449. The actual number of breaches is most likely higher, due to under-reporting and the fact that some of the breaches reported, which affect multiple businesses, are listed as single events. In the last few months, two subcontractors became examples of these “multiple” events. In one case, the customers and/or employees of at least 20 entities were affected by a breach that the ITRC reported as a single breach event….Breaches: 449 Exposed: 22,091,338.”

• ITRC 2008 Breach List
• 2008 ITRC Breach report
• 2008 ITRC Breach Stats Report broken down by categories which includes the percentages for each category (business, financial/credit, educational, governmental/military and health care).