100% Increase In Identity Theft in Q1 2008

The Identity Theft Resource Centre announced that the number of data breaches reported in the USA had more than doubled in the first quarter of 2008 compared to 2007.  A pretty scary statistic… but I think this reflects a growing awareness of information and its whereabouts. In the past a lost laptop was just that - a lost laptop, no consideration was given to the data on it, the same would be true of a CD ROM or a USB stick. Times have changed and now the owner of the laptop is quizzed on what information was on the laptop, the IT department is quizzed on the security of the laptop (was the data encrypted?) and if the answer is ‘not sure’ then a disclosure is made - just in case. Of course tracking of USB sticks and CD ROMs is not nearly so advanced - so unnoticed losses of these will undoubtedly occur.

Times are still changing and we are now seeing an increase in proactive data security management - organizations are encrypting laptops and are looking at processes which involve sensitive information and acting accordingly - tracking CD ROMs, issuing encrypting USB drives etc. I believe the situation will appear to get worse before it gets better as more people realise they have data at risk and so disclose events which previously would have gone unreported. However, let’s hope that the trend slows or is reversed by this time next year.

April 11, 2008 | Filed Under data-loss 

comments

Leave a Reply