2010 data breaches quintupled, but less data stolen.

• Position: CYBERCRIME

Criminals carried out more data thefts in 2010 than in previous years, but the thefts were markedly smaller, according to Verizon's latest data breach report.

In 2010, the number of breaches skyrocketed to 760 from 141 the year before, according to the "2011 Verizon Data Breach Investigation Report." But the number of actual records compromised by breaches dropped precipitously from 144 million in 2009 to 4 million in 2010, Network World reported.

On average, in 2009 the number of records stolen per breach was about 1.02 million. In 2010, that number was 5,263, according to Verizon.

The dramatic change can be explained by a shift in criminals' focus; they were after payment card numbers, but now they are increasingly seeking intellectual property, information about business processes, and deals between businesses, David Ostertag, Verizon's global investigations manager, told Network World.

In cases where payment card information was stolen, the number of records taken per breach was much smaller, indicating that criminals are trying to minimize the attention they draw, according to Network World.

However, that may already be changing with the recent jump in high-volume data breaches recorded so far this year. Threats from outside businesses have also jumped dramatically, from 70% to 92%, which may be due to commoditized attack tools that are simpler to use and, therefore, used more often, Verizon found.

Hospitality, retail, and financial services industries accounted for 87% of all the investigated data breaches. According to Network World, financial institutions in previous years accounted for 90% or more of compromised records, but that fell dramatically in 2010 to 35%. In its report, Verizon warned that criminals may be looking beyond credit card numbers to the...