Breach Notifications Rise More Than 40 Percent In New York

Breach notifications involving New York State residents have risen more than 40 percent compared to a year ago. Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced on Wednesday that his office:

"... has received 459 data breach notices from the first of the year through May 2, 2016, as compared with 327 through the same time last year. In the year 2015 alone, the office received 809 data breach notices. The office is expecting to receive well over 1000 notices for the year, a new record."

The New York State Information Security Breach & Notification Act requires companies to provide notice to the Attorney General office and to affected consumers. Companies use an online submission form. Previously, notifications were submitted via postal mail, fax, or email.

The Attorney General's office released a data breach report in July 2014 which found:

"... the number of reported data security breaches in New York more than tripled between 2006 and 2013. In that same period, 22.8 million personal records of New Yorkers were exposed in nearly 5,000 data breaches, which cost the public and private sectors in New York upward of $1.37 billion in 2013. In addition, the report also found that hacking intrusions – in which third parties gain unauthorized access to data stored on a computer system – were the leading cause of data security breaches, accounting for roughly 40 percent of all breaches."

If you receive a breach notification letter, the Identity Theft Resource Center advises consumers to (links added):

"1. Call the three credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and Transunion) and request a 90-day fraud alert be placed on your credit reports.

2. Request your annual free credit report from each of the aforementioned credit bureaus and review them for any inaccuracies...

3. If you do find any inaccuracies, call the three credit bureaus and request a security freeze be placed on your credit reports. This may cost a nominal fee depending on the state that you are in and does not allow new credit lines to be processed until you personally unfreeze your credit. Even if you do not find any inaccuracies, you may want to consider putting a security freeze on your credit as a precautionary measure.

4. File your tax returns as early as possible to avoid an identity thief filing a tax return under your name in order to receive fraudulent tax refunds.

5. Contact the Social Security Administration and request your wage report to ensure that an identity thief has not reported fraudulent wages which you may have to pay taxes on if not resolved.

6. For more details on what to do if you have received a data breach notification letter, please read our ITRC Fact Sheet FS 129."

Learn how to spot fake breach notices from scammers. To help residents confirm breach notifications, A few states (Maryland, New Hampshire, Vermont, Wisconsin) post online breach notices they have received.

Comments? Opinions? If you know of any states that post breach notices online, please tell us below.