2025 Data Breach Investigations Report

Hello, and welcome to Verizon’s 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR)! We are thrilled to have you with us for this, the 18th annual installment of the DBIR. Whether you are a longtime reader or this is your first rodeo,1 you will find within the pages of this report a comprehensive examination of the recent state of cybercrime, along with insights on what threats your organization may likely face, who is behind them and what you can do to help protect yourself.

This year, the Verizon DBIR team analyzed 22,052 real-world security incidents, of which 12,195 were confirmed data breaches that occurred inside organizations of all sizes and types. This represents the highest number of breaches ever analyzed in a single report. These incidents and breaches were provided from the case files of the Verizon Threat Research Advisory Center (VTRAC) team, along with the generous support of our global contributors, and from publicly disclosed security incidents. Together, these attacks represent victims from 139 countries around the world.

Although the threat landscape can vary somewhat due to organizational size, mission and location, there are always certain overarching themes that seem to predominate our dataset regardless of any of these variables. This year is no exception. Possibly the most obvious and noteworthy among them is the role that third-party relationships play in how and why breaches occur.