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Amazon.com has not only become the largest online bookstore, but is also a multinational ecommerce company. The company has been spreading its reach like branches of a river while supplying goods to countries across the world.

Identity theft is serious, and it's something that every individual, business, nonprofit, and government agency must be concerned with, it's up to YOU to take responsibility to protect yourself and learn what's needed to secure your data, banking information, passwords, personal information, and transactional processes. Do not expect the "Cloud" or the government to protect you. In many cases the government is one of the largest collectors of information and all too often this information is public record or easily attainable, in other cases the unthinkable, the government computers are hacked and the hackers collect personal information.

Think you won't be a victim of identity theft? Think again as more and more people are learning that your life can be ruined by simple mistakes that most people don't think about. Learn what those common mistakes are to protect identity theft from destroying you and your loved ones.

Identity thieves originally went after high value targets that had the most money. Nowadays, they have gone out of that comfort zone and target lower income groups who make for easier pickings. Identity theft cases have skyrocketed in the 21st century fueled by technological advancements. It is becoming easier for identity thieves to get information about people which they eventually use to carry out fraudulent activities. Although identity thieves prefer richer people, their information is not as easy to come by compared to low income earners. The following people are more vulnerable to identity theft.

Identity theft protection is one of the most critical things that you can do, specifically in this day and age when everybody is putting a great deal of private information on the internet and shopping on the internet frequently. If you're seeking a bit more information with regards to identity protection, you've definitely come to the right place, which is certainly true. We will talk about the importance of protecting your identity and a few of the things which you can keep in mind when you are thinking about this important matter here in this short article.

Every year, thousands of people are made victims by identity theft. Here are some tips on identity theft prevention to help you protect yourself, your loved ones, and your business.

Identity theft is an ever-increasing issue given the sheer amount of people who are having financial difficulties due to the worldwide financial crisis. You can only protect yourself against identity theft, do not leave it up to anyone else to help you. There are some basic measures we can all take to reduce the risk.

This article gives a brief overview of the crime of identity theft, which is now the fastest-growing crime in America. Included are a few statistics, as well as advise on protectionand defense against identity theft.

A new California law, Senate Bill 24, introduced by Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, requires organizations experiencing a data breach provide more detailed information to those affected. The law, which affects notification of breaches involving financial, healthcare and other personal information, goes into effect Jan. 1, 2012.

This new law updates AB 700, or SB 1386, adopted in 2003, which requires organizations to notify individuals after a breach of personal information. The landmark law - one of the first state breach notification laws in the nation - didn't indicate what information needed to be included in the notification. But it required breaches to be reported to individuals affected "in the most expedient time possible and without unreasonable delay, consistent with the legitimate needs of law enforcement ... or any measures necessary to determine the scope of the breach and restore the reasonable integrity of the data system."

The new law requires organizations that experience a breach to provide more detailed information to breach victims. The law requires that breach notifications:

+ Be written in plain language; + Include the name and contact information of the agency breached; + Provide a list of the personal information reasonably believed to have been subject to the breach; + Spell out the date of the breach, the estimated date of the breach or the date range within which the breach occurred; + Specify whether the notification was delayed as a result of a law enforcement investigation; + Offer a general description of the breach incident; + Provide toll-free telephone numbers and addresses of the major credit reporting agencies, if the breach exposed a Social Security number or a driver's license or California identification card number; + Include information about what the organization has done to protect individuals whose information was breached; + Outline steps individuals may take to protect himself or herself.

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As I'm sure our readers are aware, Truston hasn't been in the direct to consumer (B2C) space for years, as our plan all along was to be a "back end" white label identity theft provider (B2B). So it is interesting for us to watch the goings on in the the consumer ID theft protection area. Of course, a large portion of this market is banks and credit unions that offer their own branded services. All of those financial institutions, however, use a third-party provider to deliver a private label solution; they don't build it themselves. The biggest players in this arena are CSIDentity, Affinion, Intersections and the three credit reporting companies. Truston offers it's technology through some of these companies, who in turn sell it to banks and credit unions. Our proprietary myTruston product is in use at over 250 banks and credit unions, including American Express, FifthThird Bank and Pentagon FCU. The biggest B2C players are Lifelock and the three credit reporting companies. As the most visible player in the B2C space, it's interesting to note that you can get Lifelock data security for your business to deal with data breaches. Some of the B2C companies are looking for a more stable revenue stream by moving into the B2B market and offering ID theft services for (1) data breaches and (2) employee benefits. We've also seen pure white-label companies like Intersections, grab a significant portion of the B2C space with their Identity Guard product. So two of the largest companies have both reached in opposite directions to grow revenue. It's a potentially lucrative strategy, although not without risk. It can be challenging to straddle two very different sectors and B2C customers might be unhappy with their provider being a competitor (aka channel conflict.)

The far-reaching fraud serves as a cautionary tale for all consumers who entrust virtually their entire financial lives to major companies. A BofA employee apparently leaked confidential information about his and hundreds of other customers' accounts to scammers, resulting in more than $10 million in losses. According to the Secret Service, 95 suspects have been arrested so far in connection with the case, which is only now coming to light as BofA finally informs customers that their accounts were compromised. Read more at LA Times

We've been saying this for years.

For the roughly 185 million U.S. consumers with debit cards, the recent security breach at arts-and-crafts retailer Michaels Stores offers yet another cause for concern. The reports allege that the thieves did more than simply steal debit-card information from stores in 20 states they used it to take money from customers' bank accounts. This isn't the first time debit-card information has been stolen, but these kinds of crimes are becoming more common and more serious. The Michaels thefts follow a similar case last summer at Aldi Inc. grocery stores that reportedly led to customer reports of debit-card fraud. Year-to-date, debit and credit cards make up 20% of all consumer data breaches, up from 11% during the same period last year, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center. Debit-card fraud losses incurred by banks hit a record $788 million in 2008, according to the latest estimates from the American Bankers Association, due mostly to stolen and counterfeit debit cards. "This is going to get worse you're going to see more bad guys out there looking for debit card information," says Jay Foley, executive director at the ITRC.

More from Smart Money

The White House today unveiled a cyber-security proposal that it hopes Congress will use as a framework for legislation. Among other things, the plan includes national data breach reporting, increased penalties for computer crimes, rules that would allow the private sector to commiserate with the Department of Homeland Security on cyber-security issues, and cyber-security audits for critical infrastructure providers. More from PC Magazine

A new web site has been launched by the U.S. Postal Service. Loaded with free videos, it's goal is to help people protect themselves against identify theft and especially con artists and criminal scams. It features information on identity theft, work-at-home scams, Internet fraud, foreign lottery schemes. Visit the U.S. Postal Inspector site here.