Financial data belonging to as many as 42.2 million people in the UK was compromised in data breaches last year. 

This is up 1,777 percent from 2.2 million in 2019-21, according to law firm RPC.

RPC says the increase is partly due to a greater number of ransomware attacks. These can involve large quantities of data being copied at the same time as encrypting the target’s data.

Criminals threaten to sell the stolen data or leak it on the dark web unless a ransom is...