It's not just politicians who are trembling in their boots about the threat of hackers. Any person or organization with anything of value is a likely target of increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks.

2016 was a record year for data breaches, according to a new report by the Identity Theft Resource Center and Cyberscout (formerly IDT911). Nationally, there were 1,093 data breaches, an increase of 40 percent over the previous annual record.

A narrow majority of data breaches are the result of hacking or phishing. One of the common strategies, referred to as "CEO spearphishing," involves an email impersonating a company official requesting a colleague to deliver sensitive information or transfer money.

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