Discover data breach events

Events API provides access to structured information about data breaches extracted from news articles. This guide explains how to discover available search fields, construct search requests, and understand the returned data.

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Available search fields

Get available search fields for data breach events using the discovery endpoint:

GET /api/events_info/get_event_fields?event_type=data_breach

The endpoint returns the following fields that can be used for filtering search results. All fields are optional for search requests.

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Common fields

• company_name: The name of the company affected by the data breach.
• event_date: The date when the breach occurred.
• extraction_date: The date when the event was extracted from news sources.

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Data breach-specific fields

• data_breach.data: The types of data that were compromised in the breach, such as customer phone numbers or email addresses.
• data_breach.data_type: The classification of the leaked data. Possible values: technical, financial, personal, health, credentials.
• data_breach.impacted: The types of entities affected by the breach, such as clients, customers, or employees.
• data_breach.summary: A detailed description of the data breach event and its impact.
• data_breach.title: The title summarizing the data breach event.

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Searching for events

Use the search endpoint to find data breach events:

POST /api/events_search

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Basic request structure

{
  "event_type": "data_breach",
  "attach_articles_data": true,
  "additional_filters": {
    // search criteria using available fields
  }
}

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Using search fields

Search by dates (absolute or relative):

{
  "event_type": "data_breach",
  "additional_filters": {
    "event_date": {
      "gte": "2024-01-01",
      "lte": "2024-02-01"
    },
    "extraction_date": {
      "gte": "now-7d",
      "lte": "now"
    }
  }
}

Search by data type:

{
  "event_type": "data_breach",
  "additional_filters": {
    "data_breach.data_type": "personal",
    "data_breach.data": "Customer Email Addresses"
  }
}

Search by affected entities:

{
  "event_type": "data_breach",
  "additional_filters": {
    "data_breach.impacted": "Customers"
  }
}

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Understanding the response

The API returns matched events in this structure:

{
  "message": "Success",
  "count": 1,
  "events": [
    {
      "id": "event-id",
      "event_type": "data_breach",
      "global_event_type": "DataMonitoring",
      "associated_article_ids": ["article-id-1", "article-id-2"],
      "extraction_date": "2024-06-17 16:02:28",
      "event_date": "2022-05-06 00:00:00",
      "company_name": "Company Name",
      "data_breach": {
        "summary": "Detailed description of the breach event and its impact",
        "impacted": ["Customers", "Employees"],
        "data": "Types of compromised data (e.g., personal information, financial data)",
        "data_type": "Classifications like personal, financial, technical",
        "title": "Brief title describing the breach"
      }
    }
  ]
}

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Best practices

1. Use extraction_date for new breach alerts and event_date for analyzing disclosure patterns.
2. Combine data_type and data fields to find specific categories of compromised information.
3. Search across wider date ranges as breaches often get disclosed weeks or months after occurrence.
4. Use impacted field to focus on breaches affecting specific groups like customers or employees.

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See also

• Parameter formats
• Working with articles
• API reference