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Daily Archives: January 25, 2022

Identity Theft Resource Center’s 2021 Annual Data Breach Report Sets New Record for Number of Compromises

“Today, the Identity Theft Resource Center® (ITRC), a nationally recognized nonprofit organization established to support victims of identity crime, will release its 16th Annual Data Breach Report, supported by Sontiq, a TransUnion company, at the Identity, Authentication, and the Road Ahead Policy Forum hosted by the Better Identity Coalition (BIC), FIDO Alliance and the ITRC. According to the 2021 Annual Data Breach Report, the overall number of data compromises (1,862) is up more than 68 percent compared to 2020. The new record number of data compromises is 23 percent over the previous all-time high (1,506) set in 2017. The number of data events that involved sensitive information (Ex: Social Security numbers) increased slightly compared to 2020 (83 percent vs. 80 percent). However, it remained well below the previous high of 95 percent set in 2017. The number of victims continues to decrease (down five (5) percent in 2021 compared to the previous year) as identity criminals focus more on specific data types rather than mass data acquisition. However, the number of consumers whose data was compromised multiple times per year remains alarmingly high. Other findings in the 2021 Annual Data Breach Report include:

  • Ransomware-related data breaches have doubled in each of the past two years. At the current rate, ransomware attacks will surpass phishing as the number one root cause of data compromises in 2022.
  • There were more cyberattack-related data compromises (1,603) in 2021 than all data compromises in 2020 (1,108).
  • Compromises increased year-over-year (YoY) in every primary sector but one – Military – where there were no data breaches publicly disclosed. The Manufacturing & Utilities sector saw the largest percentage increase in data compromises at 217 percent over 2020.
  • The number of data breach notices that do not reveal the root cause of a compromise (607) has grown by more than 190 percent since 2020.”

Download the ITRC’s 2021 Annual Data Breach Report

How to Download Everything Amazon Knows About You (It’s a Lot)

Likehacker – “Alexa has been keeping tabs on you. Here’s how to see what it knows. Here’s a fun thought experiment; picture the amount of personal data you think tech companies keep on you. Now, realize it’s actually way more than that (hmm, maybe this isn’t that fun). Even as privacy and security become more talked… Continue Reading

Congressional Pictorial Directory: 117th Congress now available

Govinfo: “The U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) makes available the Congressional Pictorial Directory: 117th Congress on GPO’s govinfo, the one-stop site to information published by the Federal Government. GPO teammates designed and produced the Pictorial Directory, which features a color photograph of each Member of the House of Representatives and Senate. It also details each… Continue Reading

Free N95 masks are arriving at pharmacies and grocery stores. Here’s how to get yours

WHYY – “Nearly a week after the Biden administration announced it will deploy 400 million free N95 masks to the public, the high-quality face coverings are starting to arrive at pharmacies and local grocery stores. “Every person is allowed up to 3 free masks pending availability,” the Department of Health and Human Services says. The… Continue Reading

How Social Media Firms Moderate Their Content

Knowledge@Wharton: “Content moderation is a delicate balancing act for social media platforms trying to grow their user base. Larger platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, which make most of their profits from advertising, can’t afford to lose eyeballs or engagement on their sites. Yet they are under tremendous public and political pressure to stop disinformation… Continue Reading

The West already monopolized scientific publishing. Covid made it worse.

Quartz: “The coronavirus pandemic triggered a torrent of academic papers. By August 2021, at least 210,000 new papers on covid-19 had been published, according to a Royal Society study…Of the 720,000-odd authors of these papers, nearly 270,000 were from the US, the UK, Italy or Spain. Scientists have paid to publish their covid-19 research—sometimes as… Continue Reading

Study identities how antibody levels differ between those who suffer long COVID and those who don’t

“Published Tuesday in Nature Communications, the new findings are the first time scientists have identified how antibody levels differ between those who suffer long COVID and those who don’t. By combining the new data with a few risk factors, Boyman and his colleagues have developed a model that can calculate long COVID risk for any patient… Continue Reading

What is RSS and How to Use it Effectively

A reminder to continue to reference this article by Pete Weiss, What is RSS and How to Use it Effectively. RSS has changed over the years, but remains a significant application for researchers. Per recent postings on the subject here on beSpacific: Bookfeed.io – An RSS feed listing all newly released books from your favorite… Continue Reading

How University Libraries Can Protect Data and Scientific Freedom

The Wire Science: “Data tracking has long been a lucrative business model for many corporations. The fact that it also takes place in science is not so well-known, however. But here too, dangers are lurking for data protection and the freedom of science and research. And libraries also have a role to play, as stakeholders… Continue Reading