It is all over the news about data breaches happening in some of the biggest named companies. Even if the site has the encryption symbol stating that your data is encrypted and safe, data breaches can still happen. Two of the big companies that have recently made headline news about data breaches are Sony’s PlayStation Network or Sony Online Entertainment and Michael’s Craft Stores.
When a data breach happens it can affect just as few hundred people like at Michael’s Craft Stores or millions of people like the data breach at Sony Online Entertainment.
Data breaches can happen in a variety of ways. At one company, configuration errors left sensitive data open to the web on a publicly accessible database. Another data breach happened because of a Phishing attack.
How a data breach can affect you depends on what information was compromised and what they identity thieves will do with the information they stole. Information that was compromised can range from email addresses to credit and bank account numbers, which is the worse type of data breach that can happen.





