The impact of Data Breaches on Stock Prices

An experimental open-source platform to retrieve and visualize data breaches and stock prices, to identify underlying patterns and trends among data breach and company stock price — part 1.

Introduction

There is an ever-growing number of data breaches.
Just in the Year 2021 alone we’ve seen more than 25 major data breaches¹:

• Facebook and Instagram in January
• California DMV in February
• Microsoft Exchange and SITA in March
• Clubhouse, Experian, GEICO in April

A data breach is any incident where confidential or sensitive information has been accessed without permission. Breaches are the consequence of cyberattacks that result in criminals gaining unauthorized access to sensitive and personal information.

Data breaches are accomplished through various forms of cyber-attacks including malware, ransomware, Denial of Service, and phishing.

The impact of data breaches has led to a significant amount of financial, reputational, and legal harm to the users.

As data breaches are becoming more frequent, I wonder how much we have grown numb and forgetful about these incidents. I also wonder how the growing number of…