Cybercrime is rampant – aided and abetted by the mistakes people make. Cybersecurity company, Surfshark, and Havas North America took over a Manhattan café in a social experiment to bring awareness to people about protection their personal data with alarming results.

During the one-day event, Food for Data, cafe visitors were presented with a menu of drinks and snacks, but instead of regular dollar prices, customers were asked to provide personal data.

78% of cafe visitors were willing to give away their personal data for something as minor as a cup of coffee.

The US is the number one country globally in data breaches, highlighting the country’s urgent need for heightened cybersecurity measures. Surfshark’s research shows that in the past 20 years, over 3 billion US email addresses have been leaked, opening people up to all sorts of dangerous cybercrimes, from identity theft to carefully crafted phishing schemes. The company has been vocal about data breaches for years. Its Data Breach Map reveals that the US already had 90.4 million leaked email addresses in the first quarter of 2024, adding up to 3 billion leaked accounts in the past 20 years.  

Globally, 17 billion accounts have been breached since 2004.

Note: no data was collected during the event. Surfshark takes data privacy very seriously.