BOSTON (AP) — Attorney General Maura Healey has unveiled a new online portal to let businesses and organizations report data breaches.
The Democrat said the online portal should make it easier to alert her office to the potential theft of information.
Since November 2007, the attorney general’s office has received notice of more than 21,000 breaches, with 3,821 breaches reported in 2017 affecting more than 3.2 million residents.
Healey says data breaches can put Massachusetts residents at risk of identity theft and financial fraud.
State law requires any entity that owns or licenses a consumer’s personal information to notify the attorney general’s office any time personal information is compromised.
Data breaches can be due to intentional hacking or human error, such as sending an email to the wrong person or losing a laptop.
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