25% of Americans Were Victims of Security Breaches in Past Year

This is re-posted from:
October 1, 2012 by Samantha Murphy

One in four consumers in the United States had personal
identification lost or stolen due to a data breach in the
past year, a new study suggests. Twenty-five percent of
Americans have received a notification by a business, online
service provider or organization that personal information such
as passwords or credit card numbers were subject to a data
breach, according to the study conducted by National Cyber
Security Alliance and security firm McAfee for National Cyber
Security Awareness month.

The news comes as various companies from LinkedIn, eHarmony,
Internet radio platform Last.fm and Dropbox have had data
compromised in recent months.

With this in mind, about 90% of Americans said they do not
feel completely safe from hackers, viruses and malware on the
Internet. Consumers feel far more secure on smartphones — in
fact, about 63% said they believe their mobile devices are
protected against hackers. But since 57% said they never back
up their devices by storing information or data elsewhere and
63% don’t use security software or apps to protect against
viruses or malware, there is a disconnect on feeling secure
and being secure, McAfee said.

“Similar to keeping ourselves healthy, Americans are aware
that they need safe and secure Internet-connected devices,
but they aren’t keeping up with the required actions to stay
safe online,” the company said on its blog.