One in four consumers in the United States had personal identification lost or stolen due to a data breach in the past year, a new study suggests.
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Twenty-five percent of Americans have received a notification by a business, online service provider or organization that personal information such as passwords or credit card numbers were subject to a data breach, according to the study conducted by National Cyber Security Alliance and security firm McAfee for National Cyber Security Awareness month.
The news comes as various companies from LinkedIn, eHarmony, Internet radio platform Last.fm and Dropbox have had data compromised in recent months.
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With this in mind, about 90% of Americans said they do not feel completely safe from hackers, viruses and malware on the Internet. Consumers feel far more secure on smartphones -- in fact, about 63% said they believe their mobile devices are protected against hackers. But since 57% said they never back up their devices by storing information or data elsewhere and 63% don't use security software or apps to protect against viruses or malware, there is a disconnect on feeling secure and being secure, McAfee said.
"Similar to keeping ourselves healthy, Americans are aware that they need safe and secure Internet-connected devices, but they aren’t keeping up with the required actions to stay safe online," the company said on its blog.
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Henrik5000
This story originally published on Mashable here.