How is the severity of an identity breach determined?

Learn how UpGuard determines the severity of the third-party data breaches that expose your employees' information.

Written by Abi Tyas Tunggal

Identity Breaches searches the Internet for third-party data breaches that expose your organization's employees.

When we find a match, we provide you with the breach name, severity, data exposed, date of breach, publish date, notification status, and number of employees impacted.

The severity of the breach inherits the highest severity from the data exposed. For example, if the breach exposes one data type that we classify as Critical and 5 data types that we classify as Low, the breach will be classified as Critical.

We classify the severity of data types into one of four groups:

Critical: Passwords, Authentication Tokens, Historical Passwords, and Biometric Data.
High: Usernames, Security Questions and Answers, Banking PINs, PINs, Private Messages, Government-issued IDs, Email Messages, Credit Cards, Passport Numbers, Chat Logs, SMS Messages, Password Hints, Cryptocurrency Wallet Hashes, Social Security Numbers.
Medium: Dates of Birth, Partial Dates of Birth, Phone Numbers, Physical Addresses, Partial Credit Card Data, Bank Account Numbers, IMEI Numbers, Mnemonic Phrases, Recovery Email Addresses, Password Strengths, Credit Card CVVs, Address Book Contacts, Audio Recordings.
Low: Email Addresses, IP Addresses, Device Serial Numbers, Login Histories, Names, Spouse Names, Nicknames, Website Activity, Genders, Geographic Locations, Places of Birth, Mothers' Maiden Names, Job Titles, Employers, Purchases, Spoken Languages, Social Media Profiles, Browser User Agent Details, Instant Messenger Identities, Device Information, Payment Histories, Marital Statuses, Account Balances, Ethnicities, Income Levels, Living Costs, Avatars, Salutations, Physical Attributes, Social Connections, Home Ownership Statuses, Time Zones, Credit Status Information, Sexual Orientations, Family Structure, Education Levels, User Website URLs, Personal Descriptions, Bios, Sexual Fetishes, Relationship Statuses, Age Groups, Ages, Occupations, Financial Transactions, Net Worths, Drinking Habits, Nationalities, Homepage URLs, Religions, Personal Interests, Family Members' Names, Financial Investments, School Grades (Class Levels), Drug Habits, Survey Results, Fitness Levels, Personal Health Data, Professional Skills, Photos, Political Donations, Work Habits, Astrological Signs, Utility Bills, Years of Professional Experience, Home Loan Information, Eating Habits, Years of Birth, Parenting Plans, Employment Statuses, Vehicle Details, Browsing Histories, Taxation Records, Deceased Statuses, Support Tickets, Apps Installed on Devices, Reward Program Balances, Travel Habits, Health Insurance Information, Purchasing Habits, IMSI Numbers, Job Applications, MAC Addresses, Charitable Donations, Customer Feedback, Payment Methods, Deceased Date, Device Usage Tracking Data, Car Ownership Statuses, User Statuses, Buying Preferences, Profile Photos, Political Views, Cellular Network Names, Smoking Habits, Customer Interactions, Career Levels, Races, and Beauty Ratings.

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