Hiawatha Bray reports:
Personal information from nearly one out of three Massachusetts residents, from names and addresses to medical histories, has been compromised through data theft or loss since the beginning of 2010, according to statistics released yesterday by the office of Attorney General Martha Coakley.
[…]
The attorney general’s office has received 1,166 data breach notices since January 2010, including 480 between January and August of 2011. About 2.1 million residents were affected by the various incidents, though it’s unknown whether any of them were actually defrauded as a result of the data leaks.
Of the reported incidents, 25 percent involved deliberate hacking of computer systems containing sensitive data. Another 23 percent involved accidental sharing of information with unauthorized people, such as sending faxes or e-mails with personal information to the wrong recipient. In 15 percent of cases, retailers reported the theft of customer credit card numbers. Data was also lost through thefts or accidental losses of laptop computers and paper documents, or in cases in which workers deliberately gained unauthorized access to client files.
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