Almost 370,000 Irish users had accounts leaked in first half of 2026
The latest data from cyber security company Surfshark has ranked Ireland as the 47th most breached country in the world for the first half of 2026. A total of 369,700 accounts were leaked online from January to June, putting users at risk of identity theft, extortion or other cybercrimes.
Globally, a total of 313.4 million accounts were breached, with the US ranking first and amounting to 29% of all breaches from January through June. France took second place, while Brazil came third, followed by India and the UK.
Surfshark’s data highlighted a regional shift, with Europe surpassing North America in the number of breached accounts during the first quarter.
In the second quarter of 2026, a third of breached accounts worldwide came from Europe, and 58% of those within the region were linked to France.
In addition, 80% of countries with the highest breach density (number of leaked accounts per 1,000 residents) are also European: France, Poland, the US, Portugal, and Lithuania.
Since 2004, Ireland has ranked the fourth in Northern Europe for breach density, with 29 million compromised user accounts and 18.8 million passwords for e-mail addresses, streaming services, online shops and more were leaked, putting 65% of breached users at risk. Statistically, an average Irish person has been affected by data breaches around five times.
“Information taken in breaches years ago can remain in circulation for a long time, resurfacing in new fraud schemes, and used to target people long after the original incident,” Tomas Stamulis, chief security officer at Surfshark, said.
He added: “The same is true for data being stolen today: even if it is not abused immediately, it can still come back years later in the form of account takeovers, identity abuse, scams, and financial theft.”
Patryk Goron
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