Recent headlines illustrate that data breaches continue to occur across all industries. The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse reports that more than 155 million records including sensitive information have been involved in security breaches to date. Well-publicized breaches, such as Choice Point (February 2005), the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (May 2006), and TJX (January 2007) have exposed the information of millions of individuals, resulting in a steep increase in identity theft. The organizations involved not only suffered financial consequences, but also lost customer trust and damaged their reputations, particularly because intellectual property is equally at risk.
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