To date, the 2008 Breach Stats Report indicates the following: 17.0% government/military agencies, 21.3% from educational institutions, 36.8% from general businesses, 14.9% from health care facilities / companies, and 10% from banking / credit / financial services entities.
More companies are revealing that they have had a data breach, either due to laws or public pressure. Either two things are happening - the criminal population is stealing more data from companies AND that we are hearing more about the breaches. LifeLock has been tracking breaches since for a while now. One thing we absolutely can say is that this is NOT a new problem.
Question: Are all breaches alike?
No. According to Life Lock, security breaches can be broken down into a number of categories. What they have in common is that they contained personal identifying information in a format easily read by thieves, in other words, not encrypted.
Lost or stolen laptops, computers or other computer storage devices
Backup tapes lost in transit because they were not sent either electronically or with a human escort Hackers breaking into systems
Employees stealing information or allowing access to information
Information bought by a fake business
Poor business practices- for example sending postcards with Social Security numbers on them
Internal security failures
Viruses, Trojan Horses and computer security loopholes
Info tossed into dumpsters - improper disposition of information
Stay tuned at LifeLock Identity Theft resource center for regular updates on their blog as this list is updated.
Friday, July 4, 2008
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