The offline vulnerability of personal data - InternetNews.com

The nonprofit Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) reports that while online breaches get a lot of attention in the media and in the security industry, a great deal of personal data is being lost through the theft of paper, often in dumpster diving, as thieves get social security numbers and other valuable information from the garbage cans of medical institutions, banks, and other businesses.

As if June 15, 2009, the ITRC was aware of 250 breaches in which 12,235,848 records were exposed. Of those breaches, 64 were paper-based, representing 25.6 percent of breaches tracked by ITRC and 0.5 percent of records exposed...