Data Breaches Pace to Surpass 2025 Records in 2026

Reported data breaches involving consumer personal data are on pace to surpass 2025 records, with over 471 million victim notices issued during the first half of 2026. The Identity Theft Resource Center recorded 1,803 security incidents in the first six months of the year, an increase from 1,732 during the same period in 2025.

A single cyber incident at the education tool Canvas accounted for 275 million of those notices. The rise in breaches is increasingly linked to artificial intelligence; an IBM study found that one in four breaches was AI-enabled between March 2025 and February 2026.

Malicious insider attacks have also seen a sharp increase, with 21 events recorded in early 2026 compared to three in all of 2025. The Federal Bureau of Investigations flagged a specific driver of these threats, noting that North Korean operatives are using stolen identities and AI-generated resumes to secure remote IT positions within U.S. businesses to facilitate attacks.