The number of compromised data records in computer security breaches declined last year as thieves shifted their sights to smaller, non-financial businesses, Bloomberg reported.

A report by Verizon Communications Inc., with research conducted by the U.S. Secret Service and the Dutch National High Tech Crime unit, analyzed 761 security breaches and found 4 million accessed data records in 2010. That compares with 144 million compromised data records stemming from 141 examined data breaches in 2009.

The report showed a higher proportion of breaches affecting hotels, restaurants and retailers, with the highest number at businesses employing 100 or fewer workers.

A reason may be that smaller companies don’t have the resources to defend themselves and are often hit by non-selective, broad attacks, Verizon Communications Director of Risk Intelligence Wade Baker told Bloomberg.

“The huge reduction in the amount of stolen data doesn’t mean a green light for the financial sector, because it’s still a targeted industry,” Baker said. “Nothing that I’ve seen tells me that financials have done so much that they’re now immune. It’s less that than a case of the criminals changing directions.”

The report showed the highest incidence of records compromised was in 2008, when 361 million pieces of data were compromised.