january 1 , 2005 to may 17 , 2018 data breaches : click here 2017 data breaches : click here information management is critically important to all of us - as employees and consumers .
the itrc will also capture breaches .
breaches on this list typically have exposed information that could potentially lead to identity theft , including social security numbers , financial account information , medical information , and even email addresses and passwords .
for that reason , the identity theft resource center has been tracking security breaches since 2005 , looking for patterns , new trends and any information that may better help us to educate consumers and businesses on the need for understanding the value of protecting personal identifying information .
39 shares in recent years , many americans ’ personal information has become compromised by big data breaches .
despite this , criminal strategies continue to evolve and grow in sophistication , keeping consumers vulnerable to identity theft and fraud .
the federal government and various businesses in recent years have taken more aggressive measures to build up our defenses .
itrc defines a data breach .
but some americans are more susceptible than others to such crimes .