BALTIMORE — In the last decade, Maryland has seen more and more reported data breaches.
“10 years or so ago we were getting 20 or 30 a month. That sort of ebbs and flows each month but the most we got was in 2021 when we got 172 which comes out to about 40 a week," Jeff Karberg, director of the identity theft program.
Karberg says part of that increase is attributed to more types of stolen data needing to be reported like health information.
Johns Hopkins was recently the target of a cyberattack and agencies like the department of health and department of labor have also fallen victim.
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“Some of this is unfortunate because it doesn’t matter how personally careful you are with our data if some institution is compromised," said Karberg.
Some of the most concerning information that gets stolen like social security numbers, birthdays and names can be used to commit financial crimes.
“The information that can later be abused through some form of financial identity fraud and that generally takes one of two shapes. Existing account fraud where they take advantage of accounts you’ve already created or where they go out and apply for new lines of credit, new loans, new accounts," said Karberg.
Every time there’s a breach anyone known to be impacted is supposed to get a letter letting them know they’re impacted.
This can include a chance for free credit monitoring but there’s another step you can take before any information is taken – a credit freeze.
“What it does fundamentally is make sure every account made under your name has to go through you," said Karberg.
Credit freezes can be done through a number of credit services and can easily be lifted if you need to use your credit.
