Data Nugget: How Common is Identity Theft?

It’s no surprise that U.S. data breaches hit a record high in 2014. According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, there were 783 data breaches, or an average of 15 breaches a week, last year—that’s a 27.5 percent increase from 2013. While the percentage of breaches exposing Social Security numbers has been declining since 2010, the proportion exposing credit card and debit card information has been on the increase over the past three years, after dropping sharply in 2012.

Exposed Social Security Numbers

2010: 62 percent

2011: 62 percent

2012: 48 percent

2013: 48 percent

2014: 41 percent

Exposed Credit Card/ Debit Card Information

2010: 26 percent

2011: 26 percent

2012: 14 percent

2013: 16 percent

2014: 18 percent

Source: Identity Theft Resource Center

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