A record number of Massachusetts residents were victims of personal data thefts last year, according to a new state report issued Thursday.
Data breaches affected 1.2 million Massachusetts residents—nearly 20 percent of the state’s population—last year, according to the annual report from the Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs. The state’s consumer secretary, Barbara Anthony, said most of the breaches were the result of the massive data theft from Target stores.
" We had 900,000 Massachusetts resident affected by that one breach."
Although Target’s security breach affected the most people, retailers accounted for just 24 of the 1,821 incidents reported to the state. Eight-five percent of the security breaches hit the financial services industry.
