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Consumers may enjoy the convenience of electronic banking, e-commerce and ATMs, but as the volume of financial transactions on computer networks increases, so does the risk that financial data will be compromised. A record number of data breaches occurred in 2012—a dramatic 48% increase from 2011 in the US alone—resulting in billions of dollars in fraud losses.
Instead of mobilizing forces into preventative efforts, the increase may be having the opposite effect. Data breaches are so commonplace that many consumers and businesses have become desensitized to the threat, especially in the financial sector. Businesses often don’t take appropriate precautions to protect their data, while consumers offered free identity protection following a breach don’t always sign up for it. Industry experts have coined this phenomenon “breach fatigue.”