Data breaches are all over the news these days, and with the announcment that yet another payment processor has experienced a data breach, it's pretty certain that you've been put at risk at one time or another. But a new study might even up the "pretty certain" factor to complete certainty.
The study, done by Dr. Joe Campana, suggests that data breaches might be 100 times more common than reported. According to Dr. Campana, the majority of breach news that we hear (about 55%) comes from medium and large-sized organizations. Small businesses don't often report their data breaches, or they don't make national news. But there are considerably more small businesses in the US, and they suffer data breaches much the same as larger organizations.
So, it's not a matter of if your personal information has been put at risk by a data breach, but when. So, I can't say it often enough. Monitor your credit report closely for anything that's out of the ordinary. Be cautious, and always be on alert for pattern changes that might indicate someone has tapped your identity for their personal gain.