DATA PROTECTION FACTS

  1. In 2015, the FTC received 490,220 identity theft complaints, a 47% increase over 2014. [FTC]
  2. 7% of all Americans over the age of 16 suffer from identity theft [DOJ]
  3. 18% of adults have had their personal information stolen. [Pew]
  4. In 2013 the cost of credit card fraud in the United States grew to $7,100,000,000, at least $500,000,000 was attributable to record-breaking data breaches at major retailers. [Business Insider]
  5. Identity theft and credit fraud also produce long- term damage to consumer credit and requires expensive monitoring services. [FTC]
  6. About 110,000,000 people had sensitive information stolen from Target. [Computer World]
  7. More than 60,000,000 Home Depot customers card numbers were exposed due to a data security failure. [WSJ]
  8. Identity theft costs American consumers more than $24,000,000,000, 10 billion more than the losses attributed to all other property crimes, including burglary, automobile theft, and theft. [DOJ]
  9. Data breaches in 2015 exposed more than 140,000,000 records containing personally identifiable information. [ID Theft Research Center]
  10. Acxiom has information on 700,000,000 consumers worldwide and over 3,000 data segments for nearly every U.S. consumer. [FTC]
  11. "Although the total impact of inaccurate reports, data breaches and identity theft in the United States is staggering, the ability for an individual to prove harm is particularly difficult." [EPIC]
  12. "The harms caused by privacy violations are not easily quantified, though the consequences of a lost job, the weeks spent fixing an inaccurate credit report, or changing credit cards are very real." [EPIC]
  13. 91% of American adults say that consumers have lost control over how personal information is collected and used by companies. [Pew]
  14. 64% of Americans believe government should do more to regulate Internet advertisers [Pew]
  15. 81% of parents are concerned about how much information advertisers can learn about their child's online behavior. [Pew]
  16. "Americans exhibited a deep lack of faith in organizations of all kinds, public or private, in protecting the personal information they collect." [Pew]
  17. 93% of Americans believe it is important to control personal information [Pew]
  18. 93% of Americans believe it is important to be able to share confidential information with someone you trust [Pew]
  19. Just 6% of American adults say they are "very confident" that government agencies can keep their records private and secure, while another 25% say they are "somewhat confident." [Pew]
  20. 65% of American adults believe there are not adequate limits on the telephone and internet data that the government collects. [Pew]
  21. 74% of Americans say "it is 'very important' to them that they be in control of who can get information about them, and 65% say it is 'very important' to them to control what information is collected about them." [Pew]
  22. "86% of internet users have taken steps online to remove or mask their digital footprints, but many say they would like to do more or are unaware of tools they could use" [Pew]
  23. "A majority of the U.S. public believes changes in law could make a difference in protecting privacy - especially when it comes to policies on retention of their data." [Pew]
  24. 61% of American want a "Right to be Forgotten" [Software Advice]
  25. Last year, the Office of Personnel Management lost 21.5 million records, 5 million digitized fingerprint files, and the SF-86, the sensitive background forms for cleared federal employees. [OPM]
  26. Approximately 17.6 million Americans were victims of identity theft last year. [BJS]
  27. 67% of Europeans are worried about having no control over the information they provide online, and over 60% do not trust online businesses, or phone companies and internet service providers. [EC]
  28. In 2015, "tax- or wage-related fraud (45%) was the most common form of reported identity theft, followed by credit card fraud (16%), phone or utilities fraud (10%), and bank fraud (6%). Other significant categories of identity theft reported by victims were loan fraud (4%) and employment-related fraud (3%)." [FTC]
  29. "Missouri is the state with the highest per capita rate of reported identity theft complaints, followed by Connecticut and Florida." [FTC]