2008 Data Breaches Reach Historic Levels: Consumers and Businesses Hit Harder Than Ever; Heartland Breach Threatens Millions

Entities Mentioned

• Identity Force
• Steven Bearak

1. The latest report by the Identity Theft Resource Center confirms what we at Identity Force have been predicting for the past year - the threat of identity theft is increasing with each passing day.  "Reported data breaches rose by approximately 50 percent and affected over 37 million people in 2008, but that is just the tip of the iceberg, since hundreds of other breaches still go unreported for months," explained Steven Bearak, CEO of Identity Force.  
   
   Bearak pointed to the fact that the Heartland breach, which was publicly reported for the first time on Tuesday, actually occurred last year.  Experts anticipate that the breach at Heartland Payment Systems possibly compromised more than 100 million accounts after malicious software was found in its payment processing system.
   
   The lessons learned continue to be the same:  consumers should proactively protect themselves, and businesses should be prepared to aid anyone and everyone who is put at risk because their security systems failed.

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