by Alison Storm | 01/26/12

Data Privacy Day is this Saturday, a time set aside to inform and warn consumers about how to avoid a security breach. A new survey questioned more than 500 IT professionals who have experienced a data breach at their company. "The responsibility of keeping customers' information secure cannot lie solely on the shoulders of IT; rather every executive in the organization should be aware since the reverberation of a breach will be felt by everyone," said Ozzie Fonseca, senior director at Experian Data Breach Resolution in a news release. "Survey results show us that a data breach is often the result of human error or a crime– neither of which can be 100 percent prevented.  As such, companies must put measures in place – training, preparedness plans, guidelines, etc. -- to help protect their customers' information."

The fact is that information is stolen regularly. That information can include email addresses, credit card numbers and social security numbers. "Data breaches are frequent and as a result millions of consumers are vulnerable to having their identity stolen," said Dr. Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of Ponemon Institute. "IT professionals in this study are correct when they say that following the loss or theft of consumer data it is critical for companies to take steps to understand the root cause in order to prevent another breach and protect consumers from future harm."

If your information is stolen from a company you've done business with or interacted with, you may be startled to learn how companies respond. According to the survey, about half assess the harm to victims. Most companies do not offer their impacted customers any kind of credit monitoring service or identity protection products. The good news is that after a security breach 61 percent of companies say they increase their security budget and 28 percent hire additional IT security staff.