Data Breaches Place Your Identity at Risk of Theft, Abuse

Millions of consumers are affected by data breaches each year, and unfortunately, 2017 will be no different.

The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) reports 392 hacking incidents reported through March 28, exposing almost 7.4 million records. That’s a 51 percent increase in the number of data breaches compared with the same time period in 2015.

The ITRC reported 1,093 data breaches were reported in 2016, a 40 percent increase over 2015. While cyber security is getting better, hacking skills are evolving as well.

More than half the 2016 incidents found hackers retrieving Social Security numbers, the main identifier that puts Americans most at risk for identity theft. When debit card and credit card numbers are stolen, those numbers can be canceled and changed. When a Social Security number is stolen, the victim cannot simply change it.

Other information of yours that hackers might use include:

• Names
• Addresses
• Phone numbers
• Birthdays
• Debit and credit card numbrs
• Bank account numbers
• Passwords
• Password-related security questions
• Medical information

When you provide your personal information to a company, you place your trust in the company to protect your private information. If holes in a security system allow a hacker to grab your information and use it for their own gain, the entrusted company should be held responsible.

Data Breaches and Identity Theft

Hackers use personal information to steal the identity of the unsuspecting consumer. According to the 2017 Identity Fraud Study by Javelin Strategy & Research, the year 2016 saw 15.4 million Americans enduring identity theft, 16 percent more than in 2015.

Now that nearly all credit cards and debit cards have turned to the chip technology, in-person fraud has taken a back seat to fraudulent online purchases. Fraud committed without a physical debit or credit card being presented increased by 40 percent. In 2016, fraudsters took a combined $16 billion from U.S. consumers.

Hackers don’t necessarily use the information, but oftentimes sell the information because it is useful to others.

Not Knowing Information Has Been Stolen Until Later

Emily G. in Pennsylvania doesn’t have a credit card in her name, but that didn’t stop hackers from selling her Social Security number to a felon who was looking for a job. Emily had no idea her Social Security number was stolen in a data breach and being fraudulently used until her husband became ill with cancer, and she was forced to quit her job and apply for state aid to stay home and care for him.

Emily’s application for state aid was rejected, based on the state’s finding that she allegedly was working as a truck driver in New Mexico. The burden was placed on Emily to contact the company that had hired the person using her Social Security number and plead with the company to cooperate in a timely fashion so that she could regain her Social Security number’s integrity.

Emily says the experience made an already stressful situation ten times worse. She felt she had to prove that she was not trying to commit fraud. She also felt she was untying a large knot in her life that someone else had made at a time when she could not afford to waste even one moment.

If your personal information has been stolen in a data breach, it could be a matter of time before you are a victim of some sort of identity theft. You could benefit by filing a legal claim against the company that allowed the dissemination of your private details.

Join a Free Data Breach Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

Companies you entrust your personal information with are obligated to keep your information safe and secure. If you were recently notified that your personal information was compromised due to a data breach, you may qualify to file a data breach lawsuit or class action lawsuit.

Join Now