Companies May Not Notify Customers of Data Breaches
July 30, 2008 – 1:52 pmIn December 2007 the online sales division of the Direct Marketing Services company suffered a major data breach. The identities of over 50,000 people were compromised. Normally companies suffering such a large data breach will immediately notify their customers so they can take steps to look out for the resulting identity theft. However, these customers were completely unaware that their personal information was floating around the internet. In 44 states, there are laws in place allowing consumers to file law suits against companies who do not notify them of the danger caused by a data breach of their personal information. To date, none of these customers are known to have filed suit.
While many major companies are at fault for allowing data breaches resulting in identity theft, they are seldom held accountable to their customers to clean up the problem, or even notify them of the breach. Some companies won’t even notify their customers that their identities have been compromised. By simply using a company without proper security measures in place, a consumer can be left with massive charges and days worth of paperwork and customer service calls just to clean up the mess caused by someone else’s mistakes. This is one of the biggest benefits to lifelock identity theft protection. Life lock takes care of the arduous and frustrating process of restoring ones identity after an incident of identity theft. They ensure that if you fall victim to a data breach, you won’t be left to fend for yourself. They also will reimburse any losses up to 1 million dollars*. With Lifelock, you can rest assured, even with irresponsible companies holding your personal information.
*Guarantee applies only if you become an id theft victim because of a failure in our service. Other restrictions apply. See LifeLock.com for details.
