What is a Data Breach & Stats to Remember

“Data breach alert!” Networks attack updates–successful ones, where hackers steal customer information–are in the news all the time. The reporting is always about the number of records stolen (3 million, 15 million, 140 million) and speculation on how it happened. Do you remember the Yahoo hack? That’s just part of a long list of successful breaches. Even the U.S. Government isn’t safe from a data breach. In our article on hacked networks you’ll learn, “a data breach occurs when cybercriminals hack into organizations’ databases and steal sensitive information.” We look at that news differently. WhatIsMyIPAddress.com looks at how news of another network attack affects the customers of that attacked company. We wonder how it affects you (because perhaps you’re a customer of the company) and want you to know what you should do. There’s a reason for that: the “sensitive data” that was stolen is often information about you, including your: home address, email address, Social Security number, credit card number, date of birthday, your driver’s license number and more. Successful network invasions happen all the time! A report of one incident should remind you that there were probably a dozen or more in the past week. Here a few stats to back up that exact point. * Those are eye-opening numbers and alarming, but you can’t just look at those numbers and say, “wow.” Whenever you hear about a data breach, it should remind you—encourage you—to take action. Whether or not you had an account with a company that recently suffered an attack—you should still use the free Data Breach Check tool at whatismyipaddress.com. *Resources: comparitech.com/blog/vpn-privacy/data-breach-statistics-facts/privacyrights.org/data-breaches