The data breaches that dropped to an all-time high

Dark security-vendor “threat review” hero chart titled “We turned the corner on breaches”, plotting the number of U.S. data compromises reported per year from 2020 to 2025 on an upside-down y-axis — 0 at the top, 3,500 at the bottom — so the gold line, whose values actually climb, dives steadily toward the floor; the record years 2023 and 2025 sit lowest and are ringed in dashed red as “the great turnaround — hugging the floor”, with a green badge reading “▼ Breaches in free fall”, the 2020 point labelled “high & scary” and the 2025 point labelled “a record low? ✓” — Showing the misleading chart

The identical six numbers on a light background with a normal zero-based axis, titled “Up means more: breaches nearly tripled”: the line climbs from 1,108 compromises in 2020 to 1,862 (2021), 1,802 (2022), a record 3,205 (2023), 3,158 (2024) and a fresh record 3,322 (2025), with 2023 and 2025 flagged “record ▲”; a note reads “The trick was the flip — an upside-down y-axis turned this near-tripling into a ‘plunge.’ 2023 broke the record (+78% over 2022); 2025 broke it again at 3,322,” credited to the ITRC Annual Data Breach Reports, 2020–2025 — Showing the misleading chart

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Flip the y-axis on six years of U.S. data-breach counts and the record-shattering 2023 and 2025 dive to the floor — a security triumph, breaches “in free fall.” Turn it right-side up and the same numbers nearly tripled since 2020, breaking the record almost every other year.

Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) Annual Data Breach Reports, 2020–2025 — number of U.S. data compromises reported each year, 2026Added July 15, 2026

01The claim

Breaches have peaked and turned. After a scary 2020, U.S. data compromises have been diving toward the floor ever since — a real turnaround, with the most recent years pinned to the lowest point on the whole chart. The defenders are finally winning.

02The trick

Every count on the chart is real and every one is the ITRC’s: 1,108 compromises in 2020, then 1,862, 1,802, 3,205, 3,158 and 3,322 in 2025. The y-axis is simply upside down. Zero sits at the top and the numbers grow as you travel downward, so a series that rises is drawn diving for the floor. Because bigger numbers plot lower, the two worst years on record — 2023 (3,205) and 2025 (3,322) — end up nearest the bottom and read as the calmest, which is how a record high gets relabelled “a record low.” The green “free fall” badge and the red ring around “the great turnaround” lean on the one convention every reader brings to a chart without thinking about it: that up means more. Flip that, and the picture says the exact opposite of its own axis labels. (This exhibit is our own demonstration in the house style of a security vendor’s year-in-review hero chart, drawn from the ITRC’s published annual counts rather than from any real firm’s slide.)

03The fix

Turn the axis the right way up — zero at the bottom, larger values higher — and the identical six numbers tell the opposite story: an almost unbroken climb that nearly triples the 2020 figure by 2025. 2023’s 3,205 was an all-time record, 78% above 2022 and 72% above the previous high set in 2021; 2024 barely dipped; and 2025 broke the record again at 3,322. The tell for an inverted axis is right there on the scale: the numbers get smaller as you climb, and the shape says “good news” while the labels say otherwise. Read the axis before the line. (The ITRC restates figures slightly as late breach notices arrive — the 2025 report now lists 2023 as 3,202 and 2024 as 3,152 — but the direction is unmistakable either way.)