Data breaches put 2.5M Californians' information at risk: Attorney General report

SAN FRANCISCO (KABC) -- Data breaches have put the personal information of 2.5 million Californians at risk, according to a report released Monday by Attorney General Kamala Harris.

Harris says the report details 131 breaches of consumer information reported in 2012, showing that 2.5 million people in the state had personal information put at risk through an electronic data breach.

The report found that the retail industry reported the most breaches, followed by financial institutions and insurance providers.

More than half of the breaches involved Social Security numbers. The same amount of breaches was the result of intentional intrusions by outsiders or unauthorized insiders. The remaining intrusions were the due to failure to set proper security measures in place.

Harris said companies should use encryption and increase security when sending or moving data. According to the report, 1.4 million Californians would have been protected if companies utilized encrypted data.

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