Cybercriminals have gotten craftier, often looking toward popular trends and events -- such as tax season, the mortgage meltdown and the growth of social media -- to scam people into giving them sensitive information.
In addition to criminal scams, corporate data breaches can leave your privacy compromised.
As of September 22, there have been 379 data breaches reported by the Identity Theft Resource Center in 2009, affecting more than 13 million records.
"It's not one or two companies that are acting irresponsibly with consumer data," said Andrea Matwyshyn, a law professor who teaches technology regulation at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. "It's a large-scale problem where industry norms of care are arguably not adequate to address the challenges of data security optimally."
Exercising caution before you submit sensitive information can save you a lot of aggravation down the line.
“If you don't perceive a symptom and convey it to a physician, nobody's going to be able to help you," Ravi Sandhu, a professor of cyber security at the University of Texas at San Antonio said. "So here, also, consumers need to be vigilant and watch over their accounts and look out to see if anything strange is happening."
Automated summary from: CNN.com
