The prior record for data breaches in the 16 years the Identity Theft Resource Center has tracked them was 1,506 in 2017.

There were 1,862 data breaches in 2021, a record and a 68% increase over 2020.

The center says the number may have been even higher because some authorities are no longer posting data breach notices.

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Notable breaches so far in 2022 include:

• A hack of Crypto.com, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, in which $30 million in cryptocurrency was stolen.
• Exposure of the names of donors to the Ottawa truckers’ Freedom Convoy protest when the GiveSendGo crowdfunding website was breached.

Almost everyone has had personal and/or financial information compromised in a data breach and the ITRC says the number of consumers whose data was compromised multiple times per year “remains alarmingly high.”

Yet in a survey conducted with DIG.Works, the ITRC found that few people notified of a data breach took strong actions in response.

A “shockingly high” 16% took no action and only 11% signed up for free data/credit monitoring services offered by the hacked organization.

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When asked why they did nothing, consumers said:

“My data is already out there.” They believed the organization involved would address the issue. They didn’t know what to do. They thought the notice was a scam.

Almost 85% of people use the same or a similar password on multiple accounts, making it possible for crooks to employ brute force technology to access other databases using stolen information.

But only 22% of survey respondents changed passwords after being notified of a data breach.

Advice for protecting your information in the event of a data breach includes using unique passwords, not sharing information on social media that could be combined with stolen information to victimize you, and signing up for credit monitoring if it’s offered.

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The ITRC says the most effective way to prevent fraudulent accounts from being opened in your name is to put a credit freeze on your credit reports. A lender likely won’t approve a fraudulent application if it can’t verify your credit history.

But again, the ITRC and DIG.Works found that only 29% of respondents to a survey had ever frozen their credit.

While most people know they can do so, many don’t know how to go about it and/or think there’s a cost involved.

Certainly, there’s some effort involved because you have to contact each of the three credit reporting agencies individually, and again to temporarily lift the freeze if you want to apply for credit, but the hassle of recovering from identity theft is even greater. And there isn’t any cost.

The ITRC recommends that data breach notices explicitly recommend that victims freeze their credit and that credit reporting agencies create a common system for people to do so.