On the consumer protection side, the FTC has used its unfairness power in a precise and disciplined fashion, for example attacking companies with grossly inadequate data security that has led to the theft of consumers' identities.
LexisNexis Group, an information broker, recently announced that a security breach may have resulted in the theft of 310,000 consumers' Social Security numbers, driver's licence numbers, names and addresses.
"They are sometimes meant to draw away the attention of the information security teams of a financial institution from the real intent of the attacks, such as large value money transfers, or the bulk theft and removal of consumer account data.
Weirdly, it's not the hacks into the multi-trillion-dollar killing industry they're so worried about, but the theft of designs by consumer corporations.
The loss and theft of cellphones cost consumers over $30 billion in 2012, according to a recent study by Lookout, a San Francisco mobile security company.
We all know the stats: The 2013 Target breach cost the company 475 employees at its Minneapolis headquarters (1,175 if you count the 700 unfulfilled positions); $200 million, minus $38 million, of a $90 million insurance policy; 40 million compromised credit and debit accounts and the personal data theft of 70 million consumers.
There were also massive identity thefts of Western consumers by Russian gangs almost certainly in league with their government, not to mention probes and attacks on U.S. national security computers, shielded child pornography and in the physical world illegal drugs and murder of innocents.
The dramatic rise of consumer identity theft and corporate data leaks has placed tremendous focus on Data Loss Prevention DLPP) technologies.
As one of the fastest-growing crimes in the U.S., it's not shocking that identity theft has topped the list of consumer complaints to the Federal Trade Commission for more than five years.
