Identity Theft Protection Expert and One You Security: Year-Over-Year Spike in Data Breaches Will Prompt Consumers to Protect Their Own Financial Identities
Consumers need a way to protect themselves as their Social Security numbers go missing with every new breach of data, according to a widely televised and quoted identity theft protection expert and chief security analyst for One You Security.

/Fraud - Identity Theft News Articles/ - SARASOTA, FL, July 27, 2008 - The first half of 2008 saw a more than two-thirds year-over-year increase in the number of data breaches, revealed research reported last week. More than ever, consumers need a way to protect themselves as more of their Social Security numbers seem to go missing with every new breach of data, according to Robert Siciliano, widely televised and quoted identity theft protection expert and chief security analyst for One You Security, LLC (http://www.OneYou.com). The key, he said, is One You Security's service, which helps to render these universal identifiers useless to the thieves who would otherwise use them to steal consumers' financial identities.

"Smart consumers notice the data breaches," said Siciliano. "They also realize that every security breach runs the risk of leaking data likely to include Social Security numbers, maybe even theirs. And until the infrastructure in place for identifying people fundamentally changes, these smart consumers will clamor for ways to protect their financial identities themselves. With its capacity to strip thieves of the ability to use Social Security numbers as a way to obtain financial identities, One You's service provides the very solution these consumers seek."

Subscribers to One You Security receive newsletters and special alerts from Siciliano (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLylU5xflx8). Through these, they get the latest data on breaches and learn more about identity theft prevention. Chief security analyst for One You Security and a member of the Bank Fraud & IT Security Report's editorial board, Siciliano regularly discusses data security and consumer protection on CNBC, on NBC's "Today Show," FOX News Network, and elsewhere.

Between Jan. 1 and June 27 of 2008, the number of data breaches recorded by the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) was 342, the nonprofit organization reported in a June 27th statement, which noted that this was more than 69 percent greater than the same time period in 2007:

http://www.idtheftcenter.org/artman2/publish/m_press/Breach_List_2008_Q2.shtml

Spikes in the business sector fueled the overall increase despite significant decreases in others, revealed the ITRC's data, which also provided numbers for 2006. Whereas the ITRC found that data breaches were down since 2006 in the educational sector by 24 percent and in the government and military sector by 43 percent, data breaches jumped over the past two years by 75 percent in the business sector. Furthermore, since 2006 the number of data breaches has increased in the health and medical sector by 15 percent and in the banking, financial and credit sector by 25 percent.

"Given the entire identification system's reliance on Social Security numbers," said Chris Harris, president and CEO of One You Security, "the most practical approach by far is to make those digits functionally useless to the thieves who obtain them. For a long time, the frequency of data breaches has left consumers in need of a quickly implementable solution that allows them to protect their financial identities. As much as a seventy-five percent increase in the number of data breaches over the past couple years only intensifies that need, which One You meets."

Consumers who choose One You Security do so in part because the company strives to transform their Social Security numbers into meaningless strings of digits of no use to thieves. The firm backs all its offerings with a 100 percent service guarantee.

YouTube video shows Siciliano on "FOX Newschannel," where he explains how the ubiquity of Social Security numbers as universal identifiers helps thieves online and off-line:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqoHSACQ34U

A collection of videos at VideoJug features Siciliano sharing advice on how consumers can protect themselves from identity theft and fraud:

http://www.videojug.com/search?keywords=siciliano

Press Release Contact Information:

Robert Siciliano
One You Security
Chief Security Analyst
1990 Main Street, Suite 750
Sarasota, FL
United States 34236
Voice: 888-742-4542
Fax: 877-232-9669
Website: Visit Our Website