During the past year, news headlines announced asteady stream of informationsecurity breaches. During thistime, roughly 170 breach incidents havebeen subject to public scrutiny; countlessother incidents have gone unreported. Itis estimated that more than 81 millionindividuals have been impacted by thepublicized security breaches alone,including 26.5 million individuals whosepersonal information was contained ona laptop computer lost by an employee ofthe Department of Veterans Affairs in lateMay. While security breach incidents certainlyoccurred prior to 2005, a little-knownCalifornia law passed in 2002brought about the sudden surge in newscoverage of such incidents.
This law, known as the California ComputerSecurity Breach Notification Act(SB 1386), requires businesses to notifyCalifornia residents whose personalinformation has been the subject ofa security breach. Not to be outdone,29 other states have jumped on the Californiabandwagon and passed breachnotification laws of their own after witnessingthe broad impact of the Californialaw.
