Data Security - Identity fraud up with 25.5m recordsexposed last year

Direct Response 01-Jan-07

Consumers are increasingly under attack from theft and identity fraud with 25.5 million UK personal records exposed to these threats last year, according to a report from DQM Group.

This equates to one record for every household.

The exposures were the result of electronic data breaches, database loss and theft, and poor record disposal practises. A second survey by DQM Group has revealed that more than 50 per cent of technology, telecoms and media firms reported a security breach in the past 12 months.

Data breaches from within firms are increasingly common. Last July, Direct Response reported on the arrest of an HSBC employee in India for supplying data to fraudsters (July/August, page 5).

While many firms have measures in place to deal with security breaches, Adrian Gregory, managing director of DQM Group, believes more needs to be done to find and punish the offenders. "More attention needs to be paid to tracing data abusers, identity thieves and fraudsters once a breach has occurred so criminals can be brought to justice."