Identity Theft – Could You Be A Victim?

Originally published in Comments - Summer 2011

In April 2011, in what was arguably one of the largest Internet security break-ins, Sony Play Station suffered a massive data breach of its online network. The "thief" was able to acquire the names, addresses, emails, birthdates, passwords, security questions, phone numbers and other personal information from 77 million user accounts. Epsilon Marketing, a Dallas-based email marketing provider, was also recently the victim of a data breach, which resulted in the thief obtaining the names and email addresses of some customers from approximately fifty client businesses, which included large retailers and financial institutions.

Should these victims be worried? Most certainly, since the information stolen could be used by criminals to commit identity theft.