Today’s Phoenix Business Journal included an interesting article about how businesses, not just individuals, are increasingly becoming a target for identity thieves.  Arizona leads the nation in the rate of identity theft, with the dubious honor of having "149 identity theft cases reported for every 100,000 people for last year."

"The number of incidents has increased as the economy has sunk into recession, and it’s creating a situation of a ‘perfect storm’ in the information technology security business," said Eduard Goodman, chief privacy officer for Scottsdale-based Identity Theft 911 LLC.

The article further states, "Businesses have unique challenges when dealing with the problem. As storehouses for employee and customer information, a stray laptop left in a car or at the airport can have dramatic ramifications."

In that light, Goodman has some good advice for all of us, "Businesses need to treat personal identifiable information like they would money.  You wouldn’t leave cash lying around" for someone to steal.   Don’t make that mistake with your data.

From the consumer viewpoint, the Arizona Federal Credit Union website offers some valuable information about how to prevent and/or recover from identity theft.

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