In the last four years, approximately 250 million records containing personal identifying information of United States residents stored in government and corporate databases was either lost or stolen.  Since little attention was given to database breaches prior to 2005, it is safe to assume that every man, woman and child has had their personal information exposed at least once statistically.  In fact, many citizens have received multiple notification letters informing them that their personal information has been placed in jeopardy.

While most security breach notification letters will insist there is no evidence the breach has resulted in any harm, there is a growing body of evidence that personal information lost or stolen from databases is being used by identity thieves to commit crimes involving identity fraud. 

If you receive a notice that your personal information has been lost or stolen, insist the notifying entity provide at least one year of free monitoring of your credit report.  Additionally, please review the information provided in our ID Theft Prevention, Protection and Recovery categories in order to further preserve and protect your identity.

Listed below are the database breaches since the beginning of 2008 that InsideIDTheft.info is aware of.  If you know of a security breach that is not on our list, please email us at info@InsideIDTheft.info