What’s Really Scary is when a thief gets a hold of your Social Security number?

What’s really scary is when a thief gets a hold of your Social Security number, or bank account numbers, or starts combining information on you from multiple sources. This is when you are at great risk. The SSN alone is considered by thieves to be the Golden Key to the Palace.

Governments, Universities, Fortune 500 companies are all losing our private information at alarming rates.

Criminals have learned that identity theft can be prosperous and that the risks of getting caught are low, though in recent years the legal system is charging and convicting more people. Thieves are stealing laptops and hard drives, hacking computers and doing anything they can to get your personal information because they know how valuable it is on the black market.

I don’t mean to scare you.

I am just trying to inform you that your personal and private information is likely already out there. Exposed like most American’s personal details.

The Washington Post just did a study and found that personal information including the SSN of Colin Powell and Troy Aikmen were in easily accessible public government records on the internet. They also reference another website where an identity theft activist in Virginia provides the links to government websites that have the SSN’s of numerous congressman, judges, and district attorneys posted for all to see. Why are their SSN’s posted online, because they bought a house – its on the land deed. Now they probably have protection but if their information is public knowledge on the internet then yours and mine probably is too.

Need Proof: Ask residents of Connecticut, Ohio, Wisconsin or the City of Nashville. Numerous Universities, Fortune 500 companies, Large Retailers, Hospitals, Financial Companies, Peace Officers in Texas, National Defence Contractors, Our Veterans … the list goes on, and on, and on. There are 100’s of reported data breaches each year and over the last few years over 100 Million Private American Records, that included SSN’s and/or Financial Information, were compromised…and the real problem is that this is going to continue.

I have made this point in other articles and I cannot stress enough how true it is – Your private information is not safe, never will be, and there is a good chance that it hasalready been compromised.