Reported data leaks reach high in 2007

Reported data leaks reach high in 2007
Published: 2007-12-31
From securityfocus.com

Driven by legislation that requires the disclosure of breaches, companies and government agencies acknowledged this year that information from a record number of accounts was lost.

The exact number of records lost in 2007 is unknown, but two organizations have tracked the size of breaches reported in the media. According to Attrition.org's Data Loss database, more than 163 million records were reported lost or stolen by third parties in 2007.

The Identity Theft Resource Center, which also tracks reported breaches, put the size of reported privacy losses at more than 127 million records for the year. The data lost or stolen included credit-card information, usernames and passwords, e-mail addresses, and full identity information, such as social-security number, name, address, and date of birth.

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