Javelin Strategy & Research have released the results of their 2009 Identity Fraud Survey Report. The result confirms that the number of identity fraud victims rose by 22% to 9.9 million adults in the US for 2008. The total annual fraud amount, the amount criminals were able to obtain illegally, went up to $48 billion.
The report, which is based upon a survey of 24,000 US respondents, aims to help understand identity fraud and the success rates of methods in prevention, detection and resolution. Highlights from the study include:
As the result of better means of fraud detection and resolution, fraud is being detected and resolved more quickly. Thus, although the identity fraud victims went up (a bad thing), the consumer cost per incident went down by 31% to $496 per incident. I think consumers would agree that this is still a high cost and one which doesn't even account for the time and anxiety such an incident would cause.
The Javelin report is available in two versions, one for consumers and one for industry professionals. The consumer report offers best practices for protection while the professional report looks at trends and on impacts to consumer behavior. You can download either report here.
Also check out Absolute Software's recent study with the Ponemon Institute: The Human Factor in Laptop Encryption.