Security Breaches: 1 in 4 Americans Have Experienced One This Year
With 25% of Americans experiencing a security breach with their personal and financial data in the past year, it is becoming necessary to learn more about data security and how to safeguard yourself. A new study conducted by the National Cyber Security Alliance and security firm McAfee has shown that 25% of Americans have received at least some sort of notification from a credit card company, business, organization or online service provider letting them know that suspicious activity was detected on their account. This comes at a very interesting time considering it is National Cyber Security Awareness month.
“Similar to keeping ourselves healthy, Americans are aware that they need safe and secure Internet-connected devices, but they aren’t keeping up with the required actions to stay safe online,” McAfee posted on its blog.
With this in mind, the study also showed that 90% of Americans have admitted that they are fearful of their information being tampered with. Where most of them say they actually feel safer is when using their smartphones. 63% of people reported that they assumed smartphones were completely safe from hackers.
Payment processing services are often subjected to security breaches, especially if they have not become PCI compliant. If a hacker is able to get into a company or individual’s merchant account services, they can lose tons of money in just moments through the invasion of a skilled hacker. This is all too common in the payment processing services industry, so becoming PCI compliant is vital to protect patrons from data security breaches.
Have you had your identity, or pieces of personal data stolen? How did you handle the situation? Do you have new security precautions in place? Comment below and share your thoughts on this situation.
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