A total of 31.5 million accounts were breached in Q3 2023 reports Surfshark. The US ranks top and accounted for a quarter of all breaches with 8.1 million.

Russia ranks second (7.1 million) ahead of France (1.6 million) followed by China (1.5 million) and Mexico (1.2 million). The top 10 is rounded off by Colombia, Brazil, Malaysia, the UK, and India. Another way of comparing data breaches is to rank by population density. When ranked by leaked accounts per 1,000 residents, Russia ranks top at 49 ahead of France, 25 and US, 24. Colombia and Malaysia with 15 and 14 respectively complete the top five by this measure.

But overall, breaches are down by 76% compared with the prior quarter. Some 240 user accounts were leaked every minute in the third quarter. The comparable figure in Q2 was 855.

Europe was the most affected region by data breaches, followed by North America and Asia.

In Q2, the US recorded 49.8 million breaches ahead of Russia (15.3 million). Spain (3.7 million) France (3.4 million) and Turkey (2.8 million) rounded off the top five.

“The third quarter of 2023 shows a general decrease in data breach count. Yet every minute, over 240 online accounts were compromised globally. This exposes sensitive information to malicious actors,” said Agneska Sablovskaja, Lead Researcher at Surfshark. “We recommend a vigilant approach by maintaining accounts only on actively used platforms and implementing two-factor authentication for enhanced security.”