1 in 3 in Massachusetts had personal data compromised
Personal information on about a third of Massachusetts residents has been compromised, according to the state's attorney general, citing statistics gleaned from the tough data breach reporting law there.
About 2.1 million of the state's roughly 6.6 million residents had some form of personal data put at risk in 1,166 reported theft incidents, says Attorney General Martha Coakley, according to a report in the Boston Globe. She was citing numbers gathered from the start of 2010 through this August.
She says she is reviewing the stats to see whether the law, which imposes heavy fines for non-compliance by entities entrusted with this data, is cutting back on breaches that lead to compromises. The AG says a combination of hacking, errors by employees and a growing body of personal data that is stored electronically by businesses will put that data at more risk over time. "This is going to be an increasing target," she says.
