Researchers can use the publicly available information about data breaches on PrivacyRights.org to study various aspects, including the incidents’ frequency, nature, and consequences. By analyzing the data on this website, researchers can identify trends in data breaches over time, such as the types of organizations that are most frequently targeted or the types of data that are most commonly compromised. They can also examine the factors that contribute to data breaches, such as the vulnerabilities in IT systems, the actions of insiders, or the tactics of external attackers.
Researchers can use the information on PrivacyRights.org to study the impact of data breaches on individuals and organizations. For instance, they can investigate the financial costs of data breaches, such as responding to the incident, repairing the damage, and compensating affected individuals. They can also examine the reputational costs of data breaches, such as the loss of trust and credibility that organizations may suffer due to the incident. See the paragraph below from Privacyrights.org about how not everyone enjoys the same protections:

However, five years later not everyone enjoys the same level of protections in their respective state. Each year, we closely analyze each data breach notification statute along key provisions, allowing us to identify disparities in the level of protections that each statute affords. Download our report and use our interactive dashboard (or the underlying database) to compare states’ data breach notification statutes against themselves and across key metrics.

Researchers can use the data on PrivacyRights.org to evaluate the effectiveness of data breach notification laws in different states. By comparing the provisions of these laws across states and over time, they can identify the strengths and weaknesses of these laws and determine whether they are achieving their intended goals. They can also investigate how the implementation and enforcement of these laws vary across states and how they are perceived by affected individuals and organizations.