In recent months - and even the last few years - a large number of institutions of higher learning have been hit with
data breaches, and many have exposed thousands or more students, faculty members and staffers.
The reason for this is that these schools keep a large amount of information about consumers, many of whom may still be unlikely to regularly check their credit standing, according to a report from the credit monitoring bureau
FICO. As such, crooks may be able to use the information they glean from these hacking attacks to commit crimes that may not be detected for months or even years.
Fortunately, many banks and lenders now give consumers the option of receiving digital alerts in a number of ways about activity on their accounts, which may give them a better idea of how their money is being spent, with or without their knowledge, the report said. That, in turn, may be more appealing to younger consumers who rely on technology in their everyday lives anyway.
Ondrej Krehel, the chief information security officer for
IDentity Theft 911, has a blog about the ways in which organizations can improve data protection for consumers.
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