The University of Minnesota has become the latest school to disclose that their computers had been hacked and personal information including Social Security numbers of  students, faculty, staff, former students and even people who merely applied to the school was compromised.   The information stolen goes back to 1989 and was only discovered last July.  This is just the latest instance of a college or university being hacked.  It also is another breach in which the university still maintained personal information in its data banks on former students, and in this case, mere applicants although the university had absolutely no reason to maintain Social Security numbers for such people.  The University of Minnesota has been sued in a potential class action alleging the school was negligent in protecting sensitive personal data.

Last year, in the United States there were more than 1,800 reported data breaches and probably many more that were not reported affecting 422 million people.  The question is not if you will become a victim of a data breach.  The question is when.

As I have reminded you many times, we are only as safe and secure as the security of the companies, government agencies and websites that have our personal information.  Even if you are extremely diligent in protecting your personal information, you can be in danger of identity theft and scams if your personal information falls into the hands of hackers.

So what can you do to protect yourself from these data breaches that will be occurring?

TIPS

One important lesson is to limit the amount of personal information that you provide to companies and websites whenever possible.  For example, your doctor doesn’t need your Social Security number for his or her records.

You should make sure that you have a unique password for each of your online accounts so that if one of your passwords is compromised in a data breach, all of your accounts will not be in danger.  If your information is compromised in a data breach, you should immediately change the password for that account.

If you have not already done so, set up dual factor authentication for each of you accounts where it is available. This will protect you from having those accounts stolen by someone who may have access to your password.

Also, if you are in the mood to get scared you can go to the free website haveibeenpawned where you can find out what data breaches have affected you personally.  https://haveibeenpwned.com/

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