It was recently reported that the number of data breach alerts received by Singapore’s data protection watchdog had tripled during the February-March period.

Indeed, the Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC) stated that the firms targeted were mostly in the finance, retail, and manufacturing sectors. Security experts have then found out that the data compromised included a number of personal information such as names, e-mail addresses, financial details, and postal addresses.

Moreover, they reported that the data could be used to take over victims’ online accounts and spread malware or transfer money. This important increase of the past two months is attributed to the new data breach notification requirement as well as the rise in cybersecurity threats.

Hence, organizations in Singapore are now obligated to report breaches that could lead to dangerous outcomes, such as financial or physical harm, or if it affects the data of more than 500 people.