Identify Theft is Everywhere

Identity theft is everywhere. According to the most recent data from Identity Theft Resource Center, there have been 690 data breaches so far in 2015, resulting in the unlawful exposure of 176,183,204 personal identities.

Here are some tips on how ways to minimizing your risk of identity theft:

1. Don't give out your Social Security Number unnecessarily. Make sure it's only for tax, credit, or verified employment reasons. Before providing it, make sure you know how it will be shared.
2. Use a cross-cut shredder to dispose of documents with personal information. You can also use specialized gel pens when writing out checks.
3. Place outgoing mail in collection boxes or the U.S. Post Office instead of your mailbox for sensitive documents.
4. Know your billing cycles and contact creditors when bills fail to show up. Review bank and credit card statements carefully every month.
5. Password protect your financial accounts. A strong password should be more than 8 characters in length, contain both capital and non-capital letters, numeric characters, and even non-alphabetic characters like @, #, &, or $.
6. Never give out your personal information over the phone, through mail, or even online unless you initiated the contact.
7. You can reduce the number of pre-approved credit card offers you receive by calling 888.5OPT.OUT

(source: www.idtheftcenter.org/Protect-yourself/id-theft-prevention-tips.html)

Now let's run through some of the recent violations, many of which have made headlines in newspapers from coast to coast, due to the lasting negative impact identity theft has on millions of hard working Americans:

Companies Breached and Individuals Harmed

Company | State | Industry | Records Exposed

- Schwab Retirement Plan Services | CA | Financial | 9,400

- Piedmont Advantage Credit Union | NC | Financial | 46,000

- Sally Beauty Holdings | TX | Personal Services | 62,210

- Children's Medical Clinic of East Texas | TX | Healthcare | 16,000

- Army National Guard | VA | Government | 850,000

- Georgia Secretary of State | GA | Government | 6,000,000 -

- Securus Technologies | TX | Communications | 63,000

-  Utah State Office of Education | UT | Government | 5,500

- VTech | Toy Manufacture | 5,000,000

No industry, government, business or person is completely safe from the ravages of identity theft. Even prisoners are not safe. Securus Technologies, a leading provider of phone services inside the nation's prisons and jails, was the target of an anonymous hacker who compromised over 70 million phone call records made by prisoners in 37 states. Interestingly, 14,000 recorded conversations between inmates and attorneys were exposed, which is the largest breach of the attorney-client privilege in modern U.S. history. So make sure you take the proper precautions.

Source:  Zander ID Theft Protection