Chapter 4. Data Theft: How Big a Problem?
Data theft is a defined subset of identity theft—in particular, the large-scale theft of customer records from businesses and other organizations. These stolen records are then used to perpetrate identity fraud upon the unsuspecting customers whose data was stolen.
We touched upon data theft in previous chapters because stolen corporate data contributes to a significant portion of today’s identity theft problem. What makes it different from simple identity theft is the magnitude; when a corporate database goes missing, it can affect hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of individuals.
What Is Data Theft?
Data theft is, quite simply, the unauthorized copying or removal of confidential information from a ...
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