According to a study by the Pew Research Center, 18% of Americans have been victims of data theft online. That include sensitive information such as social security numbers, credit card numbers and other banking information.
The number is up to 11% over 2013. This increase in data theft affected all age groups, although most involved users are between 18 and 29 years old. PEW research also showed that 5% of Americans are concerned about the amount of personal information online. The percentage was 33% in 2009. However increase is not surprising, given the increasing use of social services and other online networks.
Beyond the bad news, this information deserves to educate users on the need and the duty to safely navigate. Besides Heartbleed case and after 2.9 million accounts involved in the attack on Adobe servers last October and 4.6 million accounts hacked on Snapchat in February, users should be more aware of those issues.