Changes in the real world often occur rapidly, and they rarely give advanced notice of their arrival. Organizations are forced to react quickly and to make decisions regarding their security stance accordingly. The wisest decisions are informed decisions. While no one can accurately predict the threats organizations may have to face next month or next year, they can discern what eventualities are most probable and prepare for those. That is why the Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) is created. This year’s report is the 14th iteration and is powered by 83 contributing organizations—the highest number yet. The DBIR team analyzed 29,207 real-world security incidents, of which 5,258 were confirmed breaches, to create the 2021 DBIR.