WASHINGTON – New technology may be boosting an old threat.
By the numbers:
Researchers at the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) said they’ve tracked 1,732 publicly reported data compromises so far in 2025. That’s about five percent ahead of 2024’s pace, although they added that the overall number of victims has gone down.
“Because we haven’t had the big mega-breaches that we had in 2024 and 2023,” said ITRC President James E. Lee.
An emerging threat:
Lee also said that artificial intelligence is making the already-significant problem of data breaches even worse. He noted that while identity thieves had previously used AI to make better fake websites or better fake emails, now they’re using it more aggressively.
“Now we’re seeing them use AI to analyze the data they have, so they can be very precise in who they target or what business they target, and then, to actually analyze that data again to find out what is more likely to allow them to execute some kind of attack,” Lee told FOX 5.
What you can do:
The report lists several ways that individuals can protect themselves if they believe their personal information has been compromised, including:
- Be wary of unsolicited emails, text messages, or phone calls that ask for personal information.
- Regularly review financial accounts for suspicious activity.
- Freeze your credit to prevent unauthorized accounts from being opened in your name.
- Create passkeys.
- Use strong and unique passwords.
- Enable multi-factor authentication.
Dig deeper:
To read the full ITRC report, you can click here.
