Cybersecurity firm Surfshark has classified Malaysia as the eighth most breached country in the third quarter of 2023, with 494,699 leaked accounts. The company stated, “The breach rate in Q3 2023 is up by 144% compared to Q2 2023. Around four Malaysian user accounts were leaked every minute in Q3 2023.”
In addition, the company reported that Malaysia is ranked fifth in terms of breach density, with approximately 5,436 accounts being breached per day. Surfshark measures breach density by dividing the total number of breaches in a country by its population.
“This metric helps us to gain a deeper understanding of the likelihood of experiencing a data breach in different countries,” the company mentioned.
Published in November, the research examines global data breaches between July and September in over 200 countries and territories. Surfshark stated that the study is based on data collected by independent partners from 29,000 publicly available databases and aggregated email addresses.
The company defined a data breach as an incident where an unauthorized person copies and leaks user data, such as names, usernames, email addresses, and passwords.
Globally, the study found that 31.5 million accounts were breached, with the US leading the way with 8.1 million leaked accounts, followed by Russia (7.1 million), France (1.6 million), China (1.4 million), and Mexico (1.2 million).
“The third quarter of 2023 shows a general decrease in data breach count. Yet, every minute, over 240 online accounts were compromised globally, exposing sensitive information to malicious actors,” stated Surfshark lead researcher Agneska Sablovskaja.
She also recommended a vigilant approach by only maintaining accounts on actively used platforms and implementing two-factor authentication for enhanced security.
Following an account breach, the company also advises users to change their passwords, contact the bank if credit card details were compromised, scan devices for malware, and request the deletion of leaked accounts if they no longer use the service.
