A statistical analysis of disclosed storage security breaches

Many storage security breaches have recently been reported in the mass media as the direct result of new breach disclosure state laws across the United States (unfortunately, not internationally). In this paper, we provide an empirical analysis of disclosed storage security breaches for the period of 2005-2006. By processing raw data from the best available sources, we seek to understand the what, who, how, where, and when questions about storage security breaches so that others can build upon this evidence when developing best practices for preventing and mitigating storage breaches. While some policy formulation has already started in reaction to media reports (many without empirical analysis), this work provides initial empirical analysis upon which future empirical analysis and future policy decisions can be based.