New Delhi, Jan 17 (IANS): More than 4.8 billion data records have been exposed since 2013 with identity theft being the leading type of data breach, accounting for 64 per cent of all data breaches, digital security giant Gemalto said on Tuesday.

According to Gemalto's '2016 Data Breaches and Customer Loyalty' report, consumers put responsibility for protecting their personal data firmly at the hands of the organisations holding their data and not themselves.

"Consumers have clearly made the decision that they are prepared to take risks when it comes to their security, but should anything go wrong they put the blame with the business," said Jason Hart, CTO, Data Protection at Gemalto.

According to 9,000 consumers surveyed in India, Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, France, Germany, Russia, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Britain and the US, 70 per cent of the responsibility for protecting and securing customer data lies with companies and only 30 per cent of the responsibility with themselves. 

Nearly 58 per cent of the consumers believe they will be a victim of a breach at some point, and organisations need to be prepared for the loss of business such incidents may cause. 

Only 30 per cent of consumers believe companies are taking their personal data protection very seriously, the report noted.