The Identity Theft Resource Center counts 1,803 breaches in the first half of 2026 and 471 million notifications to victims. IBM estimates that a quarter of leaks are facilitated by AI.
The pace of data breaches is not slowing down: 1,803 incidents recorded in the first half of 2026 by the Identity Theft Resource Center, compared to 1,732 in the same period a year earlier. If the second half of the year follows the same pace, the total will exceed the previous year's 3,321 incidents. The number of notifications sent to victims reached more than 471 million over six months — more than the 297.5 million recorded in the whole of 2025 — including 275 million for a single incident, which occurred at the educational tool Canvas.
The role of AI can be measured
Between March 2025 and February 2026, one in four leaks was facilitated by artificial intelligence, up 56% year-on-year according to an IBM study. The argument put forward is mechanical: the growing capabilities of models lower the cost of exploiting vulnerabilities in enterprise systems.
A more unexpected signal emerges from the report: 21 incidents in the first half of the year involved a malicious insider, i.e. a person exploiting their own access to steal data. "The raw figure doesn't seem huge, but compared to the historical trend, it is," observes James Lee, president of the ITRC, who recalls that no year has so far exceeded three cases. The organization attributes this surge to disgruntled laid-off employees and a fake teleworking scam involving North Korea.
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