Study Shows Online Privacy Concerns Are Rising

In the wake of the Facebook Beacon and Sears Manage My Home privacy snafus, you would expect more Americans to state they are concerned about online privacy. Interestingly, according to this study it is mainly people who don't shop online and those who are new to shopping online who express concern over privacy. I would be surprised if more than a few of those polled had heard of either incident, both of which got limited mainstream news coverage.
However, you don't even have to be online to have your privacy or identity threatened. Anyone who purchased items from a Sears store, for example, where Sears had a record of the purchaser's name and address was potentially vulnerable to that purchasing history being exposed on the web in the recent Manage My Home debacle. The largest data breach yet known was due to TJ Maxx stores not properly securing their intra-store wireless, allowing anyone with a laptop and 30 seconds to hack the signal in the parking lot. Thieves then were able to access TJ Maxx's main databases for months, stealing 46 million credit card numbers.
And yesterday, JC Penny reported their data storage company lost a backup tape that contains information on 650,000 customers, including Social Security numbers for about 150,000 people. So you don't have to shop or bank online to be subject to identity theft or privacy breaches. (If you get a letter from GEMoney, open it.)
It's no wonder that more consumers are now closely monitoring their credit or joining identity protection services like LifeLock.
Scary.

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