自2014年来美国已有1.6亿份政府档案被泄漏

政府数据应该是安全的，对吗？可不一定。一份新的研究发现，在过去的四年半中发生了443次数据泄漏事件，涉及1亿6896万2628份档案。

据科技研究网站Comparitech分析，这一数据包括数据库泄漏，以及电子和纸质档案的泄漏，该网站分析了自2014年开始的政府数据泄漏事件，并使用了身份盗窃资源中心的报告。

泄漏数据涉及面很广——比如2018年美国邮政服务网络的漏洞，就导致6000万用户的账户信息被曝光——有时只造成简单的人为错误，比如邮寄到了错误地址。据这份研究报告，2018年数据泄漏情况最为严重，共有100起，涉及8150万5426份档案。

哪些机构是最容易被攻击的呢？美国邮政服务和美国人事管理办公室。按照被泄漏档案数量排名，这两家排在前十名中的第一和第二位，分别有6000万和2150万份档案被泄漏，且这两个机构在榜单上都出现了两次。第三名是2017年的加州州务卿，有1920万份档案被泄漏。

那么数据泄漏频率最高的是哪些机构？那要算美国卫生部和退伍军人事务部。卫生部自2014年起发生了29次数据泄漏事件，涉及17万4547份档案，而退伍军人事务部发生33起，涉及11万3786份档案。城市网络也显得特别脆弱。

按州来看待这一数据，作为许多政府机构和办公室的所在地，华盛顿特区发生数据泄漏次数最多并不奇怪，总共37次涉及9516万6900份档案。加州的数据泄漏次数最高——达57次——但涉及档案不到华盛顿的三分之一，为2429万9303份。

小一点的州也未能幸免——有些数据泄漏事件中，反倒有更多人受影响。比如阿拉巴马州，自2014年起仅有5次数据泄漏事件，但却涉及惊人的139万7389份档案。

据研究报告显示，在过去几年，只有寥寥数州没有发生一次数据泄漏事件：夏威夷、内布拉斯加和西弗吉尼亚州。（财富中文网）

译者：宣峰

Government data should be secure, right? Think again. A new study has discovered 443 breaches involving 168,962,628 records in the past 4.5 years.

These figures include database breaches, as well as electronic and paper breaches, according to findings by technology research website Comparitech, which analyzed government data breaches since 2014, using reports by the Identity Theft Resource Center.

Breaches can be extensive—such as a flaw in the U.S. Postal Service network that exposed the account details of 60 million users in 2018—or simple human error, such as mailing information to the wrong address. 2018 was the worst year, with 100 breaches involving 81,505,426 records, according to the study.

The agencies that have proven to be the most vulnerable? The U.S. Postal Service and the Office of Personnel Management. The agencies take the top two places in the list of the Top 10 largest breaches by number of records exposed, with 60,000,000 and 21,500,000 records exposed respectively, and both appear twice in that list. The third biggest breach was of the California Secretary of State in 2017, with 19,200,000 records exposed.

But the agencies breached the most frequently? That would be the Department of Health and Veterans Affairs. Health saw 29 cases since 2014, involving 174,547 records, while the VA had 33 cases involving 113,786 records. City networks have also proven to be particularly vulnerable.

Looking at the data on a state-by-state basis, it should not be surprising that Washington, D.C., the home of many government agencies and offices, has had the most data breaches, totaling 37 cases affecting 95,166,900 records. California has the highest total number of cases—57—but less than a third as many records were affected: 24,299,303.

Smaller states are not immune to data breaches though either—and in some cases may see even more people affected. Alabama, for example, has recorded only five cases since 2014, but a notable 1,397,389 records were affected.

Just three states have not had a single data breach in the last several years: Hawaii, Nebraska, and West Virginia, according to the study.