Data: Identity Theft Stats
Associations Now
With data breaches at record highs, you may not be surprised to learn that the proportion of stolen credit card and debit card information has also been increasing, yet the percentage of breaches exposing Social Security Numbers has been declining.
It's no surprise that U.S. data breaches hit a record high in 2014. According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, there were 783 data breaches, or an average of 15 breaches a week, last year—that's a 27.5 percent increase from 2013. While the percentage of breaches exposing Social Security numbers has been declining since 2010, the proportion exposing credit card and debit card information has been on the increase over the past three years, after dropping sharply in 2012.
Exposed SSN:
2010: 62%
2011: 62%
2012: 48%
2013: 43%
2014: 41%
Exposed Credit Card/Debit Card Information:
2010: 26%
2011: 26%
2012: 14%
2013: 16%
2014: 18%
Source: Identity Theft Resource Center
[This article was originally published in the Associations Now print edition, titled "Stolen Identity."]