St. Louis — It seems like every week we’re reporting on another data breach at a major company.
This time, it's Panera Bread.
The names, addresses and partial credit card numbers of customers who ordered food online on the company's website were compromised.
The company says fewer than ten thousand people were affected. But cybersecurity experts say it's more like millions. And even though Panera was allegedly notified last August of problems by a cyber blogger…they didn't stop the breach.
“I always joke that at some point I won't have a job because all of the data will have been stolen and there will be nothing to protect anymore,” said Alex Hamerstone.
And there's actually some truth in that.
He's with TrustedSec, a company that identifies security risks for companies and how to fix them.
He says the recent hacks at places like Panera and Equifax, where up to one 145 million social security numbers, and driver's licenses were stolen, are simply the cost of doing business these days.
"So should people be concerned or is it just whatever?" I asked.
"It really depends on what they get and how many people they get," he said.
For example, if just your credit card is stolen, the bank often covers the fraud.
But when it's information that can lead to identity theft…”and someone gets your social security number and healthcare records. Goes out and creates an identity. Takes out mortgages, opens accounts, that can be incredibly difficult to fix and very, very damaging to a person,” he explained.
We spoke with one couple whose information has been stolen so many times, they didn’t want to reveal their names or faces.
"We've been told that you need to change your password. So we have not one or two books, we have three or four books that we keep," the wife explained.
They say their information was even hacked from the IRS.
“It's just going to get worse. I mean what do you do?” she asked.
According to Hamerstone there’s not a whole lot to do, except to monitor your credit reports and keep your computer security updated.
"If your data was all on paper you can hide it under a mattress. But in this case you are giving it to organizations. And how your data is protected is up to their standards and practices. You don't have a lot of say in it,” he says.
Your only other option…just pay with cash.
Obviously that's a little difficult in 2018. But if there's anything good to come from these hacks... it's that a number of states are trying to toughen laws on data breaches by regulating how quickly people have to be notified.
Click here to find out more about TrustedSec.