the.com/data breach

means An incident where protected or confidential data is accessed, stolen, or exposed without authorization.

from Straightforward compound: 'data' from Latin 'datum,' meaning 'a thing given,' and 'breach,' from Old English 'bryce/brice,' meaning a breaking or gap — the same root that gives us a breach in a wall or a breach of contract. Put together, the phrase treats information like a fortified place: when security fails, the wall is breached and what was inside gets out. The specific term 'data breach' is modern, rising with computing and networked recordkeeping, once there was enough stored data — and enough value in it — for its escape to need its own name.