The breaches that came to light during summer of 2018 have come in all shapes and sizes. A recent breach at reservation software platform FastBooking, for instance, affected at least 400 hotels in Japan, while one at Ticketmaster UK affected 40,000 people in the U.K. Both exposed their customers' names and contact and financial information. But a breach at Florida-based marketing and data aggregation firm Exactis exposed much, much more.

According to Wired magazine, up to 2 terabytes of data was stolen from Exactis. While the data did not include financial information or Social Security numbers, it did include contact information and marketing data on people's personal characteristics, interests and habits.

To be sure, these breaches pose a risk of fraud for all those affected. But whether such fraud rises to the level of identity theft — the most menacing type — is another matter. Such a risk is not determined by a breach's size and scope, but the type of data and the victims it compromises, and even the length of time since it happened.

Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader

Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.

Rhys Dipshan

CT-born, New York-based legal tech reporter covering everything from in-house technology disruption to privacy trends, blockchain, AI, cybersecurity, and ghosts-in-the-machine. Continually waiting for law to catch up with tech. (It's like waiting for Godot, but without the clowns)