Identity Theft Resource Center

PGP and the Ponemon Institute have just announced results of the fifth annual U.S. Cost of a Data Breach Study. The overarching conclusion is that breaches are getting more expensive.

Data breaches cost U.S. companies $204 per compromised customer record in 2009. That compares to $202 in 2008. Despite an overall drop in the number of reported breaches -- the Identity Theft Resource Center reports 498 in 2009 vs 657 in 2008 -- the average total per-incident cost in 2009 was $6.75 million. In 2008, that number was $6.65 million.

It took only a modicum of skill for a cybergang to steal 94 million credit and debit card payment records from the TJX retail chain -- and follow that up by hauling in 130 million records from credit card processor Heartland Payment Systems.

Court records reveal that those record-setting break-ins were almost too easy. Even more surprising: The thieves were able to take their sweet time extracting the data, in each case going undetected for more than a year.

The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) monitors five groups for data breaches annually. It found that the financial, banking, and credit industries have remained the most proactive groups in data protection over the past three years. Businesses accounted for about 37 percent of the breaches, the highest number of any of the five groups studied. The government/military category has dropped nearly 50 percent since 2006, moving from the highest number of breaches to the third highest.

As April 15 approaches and taxpayers scramble to complete their tax returns, it's critical that they take extra care to guard their personal information.

Consider what's exposed and vulnerable: your Social Security number, address, name and financial information.

Reports of data breaches increased dramatically in 2008, and identity theft is still among the fastest-growing crimes. Security vendors are racing to help consumers and businesses protect themselves, with AVG Technologies making one of the first big moves this year.

AVG, an antivirus and Internet security software provider, has acquired Sana Security to help battle the growing threats. Sana develops behavior-based software that proactively protects against threats in a way similar to the human immune system.