Laying blame in ID theft

On the Sxip blog they've raise a study by Nationwide Mutual insurance regarding identity theft (30% of ID theft from the Internet. Having not read the report myself, I can only say that I found this recounting interesting:

one-third of those surveyed blamed their compromised IDs on the Internet, where they think their information was exposed to hackers. . . . Whereas, 21% said the information was stolen from their home, car, mailbox, garbage or a wallet or purse.

The key is that it is the people "blaming" somebody or something for the cause of their problem. And, not knowing for sure how or where the information got out they perceive and then blameeither the Internet (1/3) or traditional "dumpster-diving" (21%) channels. Is that valid? Does it matter? That's what people believe. A few years ago, those figures would have been completely different -- I suspect even if the actual incidence of channel activity being 2% and 60% respectively. We are conditioned to look for and assign "probable cause."

Posted by Grayson at August 12, 2005 07:35 AM