- Big retailers hospitals and schools have faced data breaches exposing personal data.
- Salt Lake City School District warned parents of a vendor data breach.
- Experts advise using strong passwords and two-factor authentication for data protection.
SALT LAKE CITY — Big retailers, hospitals and even schools have suffered data breaches. In Utah this year, the Salt Lake City School District warned parents through email that hackers infiltrated one of its vendors. The email noted that Social Security numbers were not compromised. All that was exposed was personal data such as "name, date of birth, grade, address, contact information."
But that doesn't mean people should rest easy. The fact is most data breaches only expose that sort of personal data — the non-financials. And while it's true that without a Social Security number or credit/debit card digits, a scammer's ability to commit immediate financial fraud can be hampered, it's not blocked. A crook can still do a lot of damage with just your name, phone number and email address.
"If you give that information to a hacker, they will be able to conduct social engineering attacks," said cybersecurity advocate Gerald Katsuis of NordVPN.
He says scammers are pivoting away from the more traditional open-a-credit-card-in-your-name fraud and leaning more into impersonation fraud.
That is, crooks are using just the basics to convincingly pose as government officials, doctors, delivery services — even loved ones. They can also impersonate you.
"We tend to undervalue the importance of those type of breaches and information," Kasulis said.
A NordVPN survey found most Americans aren't particularly worried about the security of their identities, even though most either expect or know that their personal data is on the dark web or online somewhere.
"Unfortunately, we see a tendency that people still follow that belief," Kasulis said.
Your best defense in protecting your personal data remains using strong, unique passwords, enabling two-factor authentication and if you get a notice that any piece of your financial or personal information has been leaked – take it seriously.
