Data breaches on the rise

The Identity Theft Resource Center of San Diego has found that data breaches are on the rise. So far this year, 449 U.S. businesses, government agencies and universities have reported a loss or theft of consumer data, compared with 446 breaches for all of last year, a new report shows. At least 22 million consumer records have been the target of data breaches, although resource center founder Linda Foley cautioned that the true number of records affected is likely to be far higher.

Malicious attacks were the leading cause of data breaches, with nearly 13 percent attributed to hacking. Customer data theft by company employees accounted for 15.6 percent. Lost laptops and other digital media containing consumer data comprised 21 percent of data breaches, while 14 percent involved the accidental publishing or dissemination of sensitive consumer data. Breaches attributed to subcontractors made up 11 percent.

To read more about the growth of data breaches:
- see this Washington Post article