America Apathetic About Data Breaches

Maybe it is just me, but I noticed an interesting thing, it appears Americans have become apathetic to data breaches.  In many respects it is as if we have just accepted it as part of the times we live in, where a database of millions of records can be copied in seconds, a laptop with every customer and employee record a company has can be swiped in a blink of an eye, there just seems to be no way to stop it and as there are so many data breaches and laptop thefts it seems that the press and populace are bored with hearing about them.

A case in point. The latest Starbucks laptop theft which we broke last week. A letter was sent to Starbucks employees alerting them to the fact that a laptop was stolen with 97,000 records which included Social Security numbers, names, addresses and who knows what else. The media response was abysmal, with only local news outlets even bothering to write about it. The fact that a well respected corporation had 97,000 unencrypted records on a laptop is just not news anymore. Does this worry you?

Sure the media and most people may be apathetic, but the victims sure are not.  Take Diane Yoder an employee at Starbucks who found our report on the incident who stated “I got the same letter, but have been unable to find anything about it in the press. Is this for real? I am calling corporate tomorrow….”. A victim did a search for information on the laptop theft and only found our story, a few days later there was a short blurb on KOMO news a location station in Seattle, but very little else.

Then there is Rebecca, both her husband and her work for Starbucks and felt first hand what it means to be the victm of a data breach as she said:

It has nothing to do with Starbucks; it happens all the time everywhere, and it can happen to anyone. I am completely on edge about this. I’ve worked for the company for 7 1/2 years, and never in that time have I ever questioned the safety of my information. We have a one year old and one on the way, and I’m concerned how that’s going to reflect our lives if something does happen with our information. As of right now, the information hasn’t been misused; however, there is a black market for this kind of thing. I’m definitely calling corporate tomorrow to find out what they intend to do about this, other than the year of credit monitoring.

So what do you think? Are data breaches and laptop thefts in the media over blowing it? Is there really any concern? Has anyone been a victim of a breach like this and had it influence their lives and/or credit ratings.