As Data Crimes in California Soar, Law Enforcement Suffers: Governor Should Sign AB 1656

By Assemblymember Dave Jones and
Sacramento Sheriff John McGinness

Last year, one of California’s largest retailers announced the loss of more than 45 million credit and debit card numbers that were stolen from their IT systems over an 18-month period. It's considered to be the largest customer data breach on record and resulted in eleven indictments.

While this historical data breach was a terrible disaster, it is not unique, nor is the situation getting any better. According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, data breaches are up 70% in the first half of 2008 over the same period in 2007. Every day consumers in California are playing Russian roulette with their identity as they swipe their ATM and credit cards to purchase groceries, gas or clothes. This increasing number of data breaches has brought national attention to the danger consumers face every day when their personal information is not properly protected. Unfortunately, many retailers that choose to store customers’ credit and debit card information aren’t using the technology that is readily available to protect consumer data. Data like account numbers, social security numbers, date of birth and PIN numbers are routinely kept by retailers without asking permission to do so.

Data crimes and identity theft are growing at a frightfully rapid pace in communities throughout California and the United States. In fact, according to the 2008 Identity Fraud Survey Report, 8.1 million Americans became victims of identity theft. Even more frightening, according to the 2008 Data Breach Investigations Report, 84% of all breaches involved data related to payment cards.

Because of this, many law enforcement agencies have created units dedicated specifically to combating high tech crimes. Here in Sacramento, the Sheriff’s office runs the Sacramento Valley Hi-Tech Crimes Task Force. However, with the huge influx of data crimes and identity theft these units are often not enough to properly combat ever-increasing caseloads. Paperwork and complex investigations are bogging down law enforcement throughout the state and creating a serious concern among law enforcement leaders struggling with strapped budgets to balance resources to combat data crimes, burglary, robbery, murder, rape and child abuse, among a myriad of other serious or violent crimes.

The good news is that unlike other crimes, data crimes and identity theft can often be stopped before law enforcement ever needs to get involved. This is possible through advanced data security systems that can better protect personal financial information from data hackers looking to steal it. The bad news is that currently many large retailers maintain data they do not need and do not put these security systems in place to protect customers’ data.

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