Last updated: 2026-04-27
This infographic presents data breach statistics and COVID-19-related cybersecurity threats documented by IBM Security, BBC, and The Data Privacy Group. Organizations faced a USD 3.86 million average cost per data breach in 2020, while the pandemic drove increased phishing attacks exploiting remote work vulnerabilities and coronavirus-themed social engineering.
According to IBM Security's 2020 Cost of a Data Breach Report, the average total cost of a data breach reached USD 3.86 million. This figure represents expenses across incident response, investigation, regulatory fines, customer notification, and remediation activities following unauthorized access to sensitive data.
BBC Technology reported in April 2020 that cybercriminals actively exploited the pandemic through coronavirus-themed phishing campaigns. Attackers sent malicious emails disguised as health advisories, contact-tracing notifications, and remote work software updates to compromise credentials and deploy malware. The shift to remote work expanded attack surfaces as employees accessed corporate systems from home networks with inconsistent security controls.
The Data Privacy Group documented in June 2020 that organizations experienced heightened privacy risks during pandemic response. Remote collaboration tools, telehealth platforms, and contact-tracing applications processed personal data under accelerated deployment timelines, often without comprehensive privacy impact assessments. Regulatory bodies issued guidance balancing public health data collection against individual privacy rights under frameworks like GDPR and CCPA.
For expert perspectives on pandemic-era cybersecurity challenges and protective measures for individuals and businesses, see the interview with Laminar Security and Secret Double Octopus at /blog/data-privacy-vs-covid-19.