Breaches in the banking/financial/credit category fell by almost 59% so far this year, but breach incidents overall are on a record-setting pace, according to the San Diego-based Identity Theft Resource Center.

As of September 20, the total number of breaches captured in the ITRC 2016 Breach Report now totals 687, an increase of nearly 16% over last year's record pace for the same period (594). This represents almost 29 million exposed records so far this year in the U.S.

Year-over-year, breaches in the education sector are up 34.7% over 2015 figures, followed by the business sector, up 24.1.6%, and the medical/healthcare field up 22.1%. The government/military sector, with 49 breaches, reflects an increase of 16.7% compared to 2015 figures, while the banking/financial/credit category remains down 58.6%.

With 30 breaches recorded over the two weeks prior to Sept. 20, the five industry sectors break down as follows:

• Business = 43.5%
• Medical/Healthcare = 36.2%
• Educational = 9.6 %
• Government/Military = 7.1%
• Banking/Credit/Financial = 3.5%

The ITRC Breach database updates on a daily basis based on reported incidents, and posts to its website each Tuesday.

Meanwhile, internationally there were more than 554 million data-records breached, with identity theft the most commonly used method, according to Dutch-based Gemalto's Breach Level Index. The 970 data breaches reported worldwide in the first half of 2016 represent an increase of 15% from the previous six months,

Some 79% of the reported incidents were in North America, while 9% were in Europe, and 8% in the Asia-Pacific region.

Michael Patterson, founder and CEO of cybersecurity firm Kennebunk, Maine-based Plixer, said, “Anything entered into a computer that is connected to the Internet can be hacked. I fear that many of us are becoming apathetic to news of these electronic thefts.”

Patterson explained people may not care now, but when something like personal medical records start getting altered, concerns will rise because of the problems caused. “Imagine trying to get insurance and being rejected because someone entered bogus information that you smoke, drink excessively, suffer from chronic back issues, et cetra. Having our personal information stolen is not good. Having it altered could be a bigger problem.”