Federal Trade Commission: 246,570 identity theft cases recorded in its Sentinel consumer fraud database in 2004. ID Analytics Inc. studied four high-level identity crime cases involving half a million consumer identities. Deliberate hacking of a database produced the highest rate of crime, followed by inadvertent access to sensitive data. Losses of data, such as tapes falling off a truck, were considered to be the least likely breeches to result in subsequent crimes. “The smaller the breach the higher the likelihood of misuse,” says Mike Cook, co-founder of ID Analytics.”]
Source: https://www.cuinfosecurity.com/lost-data-doesnt-necessarily-lead-to-crimes-a-326