Some of the more significant data breaches included Sony’s Playstation Network, Epsilon, Health Net and Tricare Management. Those breaches alone affected more than 80 million records.

If you find yourself on the receiving end of a data breach, here’s what you should do. In many cases, your Social Security number is what will be stolen if you are affected. This means that you could face new account fraud. Monitor your credit reports and contact the Social Security Administration. If you find new accounts opened without your knowledge, take action quickly to close those accounts.

If your credit or debt card numbers are compromised, contact your bank or credit card issuer immediately. Check your statements as often as possible – online is preferable – to be sure there is no fraudulent activity. If you see any unauthorized activity, contact the bank or card issuer as soon as possible.

In some cases, if you are part of a group of customers who are affected by a data breach, you may be offered free credit monitoring services. You can take advantage of this, but your better bet would be to sign up with LifeLock.

LifeLock does much more than simply monitor your credit report, and the coverage you receive will be much more thorough. You’ll be able to take action quickly no matter where your information is compromised. Go online to find out more at www.lifelock.com.

Around 200 residents were affected by a breach in College Savings Iowa. An employee working in customer service for a company connected to the college savings firm accessed accounts with private information. Social Security numbers, birth dates, names, contact information and account numbers were all accessed.

Company officials say that although there was a breach, it is not known whether the information was used by the employee who accessed it or if the information was given to a third party. Law enforcement officials have advised that the affected parties should track their credit scores to make sure they don’t become victims of identity theft.

Holds have been placed on the accounts that were accessed and the employee who illegally accessed them has been fired.

One in 20 people each year becomes a victim of identity theft, and the number of children among those victimized is growing. The issue has gotten to be such a huge concern that the Federal Trade Commission will be meeting in Washington, D.C. next week to discuss child identity theft.

An identity thief can use a child’s Social Security number for up to 18 years and neither the child nor the parent has any idea they’ve been victimized until the child tries to get credit as a young adult.

If you suspect your child has been victimized, you can find out by contacting the credit reporting bureaus to see if your child has a credit file. If not, your child is safe. If you find that your child has a credit file, there could be a problem. If you discover a problem, notify the credit reporting bureaus of the issue, and place a freeze on your child’s credit report.

Unfortunately, you can’t prevent a data breach. You can withhold and protect your personal information most of the time, but sometimes you have to provide it. So what do you do if you learn there’s a data breach? You can use these five tips to protect yourself.

1. Contact the organization that suffered the breach. There should be a hotline set up and manned with company employees who can answer your questions, first about what protect the company plans to provide and second, to what extent your information is at risk.

2. If your bank or credit card accounts are affected, contact the bank or card issuer and close the appropriate accounts.

3. Monitor your credit card and bank accounts and statements closely, watching for any questionable or fraudulent information.

4. Place a fraud alert on you credit report with all three credit reporting bureaus. This way, if someone tries to open a new account using your information, you will be contacted for verification.

5. If the company that’s reported the breach offers a free credit monitoring service to help, take them up on their offer. It’s become common practice for companies that have suffered breaches to offer one year of credit monitoring to affected customers.

As previously stated, you can’t prevent a data breach. But you can make it harder for a criminal to use your information. Get proactive today.

Seventy-seven million people have been affected by the breach, and experts are calling it the largest data breach in history. Personal data from those individuals was exposed, including possibly credit card numbers.

Sony has announced that its credit card data is encrypted, but The New York Times has reported that researchers have already spotted credit card numbers associated with the breach for sale in online criminal forums.

The phishing scams would involve criminals sending highly-customized e-mails or postal letters, or even phone calls, that appear to be from Sony. The communication would request more sensitive information, like credit card or Social Security numbers.

Sony has urged customers to be aware of these scams, and officials have said the company will not contact customers in any way, asking for credit card numbers, Social Security numbers or any other personal information. If you receive such a request, Sony officials say, you can be assured it’s a scam and not from Sony.

The FBI is currently investigating the breach.

While the investigation is underway and in the coming months, if you are affected by this breach, you should be sure to check your bank and credit card statements carefully. You will also want to get a copy of your credit report. Review all of these documents thoroughly, looking for questionable or fraudulent entries.

You should also change all your passwords. Do not respond to any communication that appears to be about Sony. If you receive an e-mail, telephone call or letter, and you’re not sure, contact Sony directly to verify the communication’s origin. Should you receive an e-mail that contains a link, do not click on it. Doing so could engage malware, which can steal your personal information without you even knowing it.

It’s something you should think about. The Federal Trade Commission reported that identity theft was its top complaint in 2010, and nearly two in 10 complaints overall were identity theft-related.

Overall, incidents of ID theft were down 28 percent, but there were still 8.1 million people victimized in 2010, with an average of $4,607 in losses per victim.

Total annual ID theft-related fraud reported amounted to $37 billion last year, down from $56 billion in 2009. New account fraud, which is when new accounts are opened using the victim’s stolen information, accounted for the largest portion, with a $17 billion loss.

What can you do? First of all, don’t carry your PIN number in your wallet. One in 10 people do. You shouldn’t carry your Social Security card either.

Protect yourself from “friendly fraud,” in which you get scammed by a friend, relative or coworker.

Be sure to shred all documents you don’t need that contain your personal information before you dispose of them.

And last, don’t overshare. Many people post their dates of birth, favorites, maiden names and pet names, which are common security questions, on Facebook and Twitter. Others forget to make sure their privacy settings prevent scammers from seeing what you don’t want them to see.

The bottom line is this: be cautious. You may think you’re going overboard, but isn’t it better to err on the safe side?

Hackers are getting more and more knowledgeable on how to get into systems and steal customer and patient information. With just a few key pieces of info, like Social Security numbers, addresses and full names, a thief can do major damage – often ruining a person’s credit and good name. This damage can take years to repair, as well as thousands of dollars.

Companies are becoming more sensitive to the fact that they must step up their response to this growing problem. And LifeLock is leading the pack by providing them a way to protect their customers and employees.

LifeLock Breach Services can prove invaluable in helping businesses quickly restore public confidence and avoid unnecessary costs in the event of a breach. LifeLock’s services will help lessen potential fallout by:

• Initiating a rapid response.
• Communicating to people at risk.
• Establishing identity theft protection for those affected persons.
• Tracking results, providing reports and ongoing information about enrollments and fraud incidents.

LifeLock will also work with companies, providing support to stay ahead of any future complications.

Interested in protecting your business? Call LifeLock today at 1-877-511-7906.

Pentagon Federal Credit Union, based in Alexandria, Va., sent a letter to its customers earlier this month alerting them to the security breach. A specific number on those affected has not been released by the credit union.

But the attorney general’s office in New Hampshire, has disclosed that the names, addresses and Social Security numbers, as well as credit and debit card numbers, of 514 credit union customers were improperly accessed. The state is one of the few in the U.S. that require companies to notify the attorney general of security breaches that affect that state’s residents.

PenFed did release a statement, however, that said there is no indication that the information has been misused, and no passwords or PINs have been accessed. The credit union has reissued credit and debit cards to customers whose privacy was compromised. It is unclear, at this point, whether the credit union has found the source of the attack.

PenFed serves almost 1 million members of active-duty military, Department of Defense, Coast Guard, Department of Homeland Security and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, as well as defense contractors.

Cyber attacks against credit unions on on the rise, mainly because credit unions have smaller budgets than big banks that have security experts on site.

The other issue is that the compromise occurred on a laptop. Laptops are easy targets for hackers because they are portable and used by many people on multiple computer servers. Laptops are often not as secure as a desktop computer.

The breach is still under investigation, and PenFed officials have said it may be years before the effects of this breach are known.

Recent headlines spotlighted data breaches at fast food and pharmacy chains, and while it appears that none of the databases contained financial or confidential information, the companies involved still made sure to warn consumers about suspicious e-mails requesting financial or other information that appear to have come from the companies.

Hospitals and government agencies have also been the victims of data breaches. There were at least 498 data breaches reported in 2009, less than the 657 reported the year before. The number was expected to be much higher in 2010, since by mid-year the total number of reported breaches was already higher than the total from the previous year.

Due to the increasing number of incidents, state and federal laws are dictating that companies must be proactive in notifying consumers when there has been a breach. If you receive such a notice and don’t understand it, contact the company directly. If your financial accounts are affected, contact your financial institution and get advice on how to proceed. This may include closing the accounts. You should be sure to check your statements thoroughly as soon as you receive them and contact the bank if there are any questionable entries.

If you are concerned your information may be compromised due to a data breach, you can file a fraud alert with the three credit reporting agencies. They are required to flag your credit report for 90 days and notify you if someone tries to open a new account using your information.

If you are a business owner, you have a responsibility to minimize the risk of and damage from a data breach. Seek assistance from an attorney as soon as you become aware of a data breach. An attorney can help you identify what state and federal law requires you to do.

If you wish to be proactive in protecting your personal information, give LifeLock a call. LifeLock monitors the Internet daily, looking for both credit and non-credit related threats to your information, and you’ll be notified before the damage can be done.

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