Study shows ID Theft risk climbs by five times after data breach

November 20, 2009 – 4:39 pm

databreach Data breaches have become a common occurrence. We post about them nearly weekly here at LifeLockPromotionCode.net. Now a recent study by Javelin Research, a financial services research firm, shows an alarming coorelation between those involved in massive data losses and ID theft victims.

To start, nearly 1 in 9 people receive a notification of a data breach letter each year. Half of all consumer have gotten one since the year 2000. Fairly astounding figures considering the amount of data breach notification letters should be much higher as not all companies let their customers know about data losses.

For those that receive a data breach notification, their chances to become an identity theft victim in the next 12 months raises by 500%. But there’s still a lack of perceived responsibility between the link of data loss and ID theft. Only 2% of identity theft victims think that the crime occurred because of the data breach.

There’s also hard evidence that shows how fast you report an identity theft controls how much money you may have to spend to resolve it. Those who take over five months to find out about theft incur an average of $933 through lost time, wages and other expenses. Those who find out of it day of only incur an average of $323 while those who report it in the first week pay $484.

All the more reason to have a proactive identity theft prevention service like LifeLock who can notify you quickly or even possibly prevent your identity theft from happening in the first place.

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