Leaks of Personal Data Swell to a Deluge [View All]

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Hundreds of millions of people were left vulnerable to identity theft in 2007 because of data breaches, resarchers say.

More than 120 million people in the U.S. had personal data exposed in 2007 as identity theft reached record heights. That's according to research from the nonprofit organization the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) which reported 446 separate breaches exposing 128 million records.

The data shows a more-than sixfold increase over its 2006 figures, when 312 incidents were recorded, involving more than 19 million individuals.

Another group, Attrition.org, shows 319 personal information data loss incidents in 2007 in its database, both in the U.S. and other countries.

Criminals can fraudulently use other another person's identity data to buy goods, take out loans, take money from savings accounts, and hire cars. That person has to recover from the loss and endure badgering by debt-recovery organizations and bailiffs.

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