Many Consumers Fail To Protect Privacy After Receiving Data Breach Notice

Few consumers take strong action to protect their privacy and identities after receiving a data breach notice, according to a report by the Identity Theft Resource Center and research firm DIG.Works. The report, based on a survey of 1,050 U.S. adult consumers, found that 16 percent of the participants in the research took no action after receiving notice of a data breach affecting their accounts. Information from breached accounts can be used for identity fraud or to make employers vulnerable to cyberattacks, including ransomware and business email compromise (BEC) scams. What’s more, less than half the participants (48 percent) changed the passwords on the accounts affected by the breach, and only 22 percent changed all their passwords after they were notified of an attack. “When we asked the 16 percent why they didn’t act when they received a data breach notice, 26 percent said their data is already out there, and they can’t do anything about it,” said Eva Velasquez, president and CEO of the ITRC, a San Diego-based non-profit organization founded to provide identity theft victim assistance and consumer education. “But there are actions they can take, depending on what data was compromised, that will help them minimize their risk,” she told TechNewsWorld. “We’re not doing a good job of explaining that.”