Black Friday could be a field day for identity thieves

Black Friday is rapidly approaching, and because of the large discounts many retailers are supplying, it will likely be one of the busiest shopping periods of the year. According to a recent survey from the National Retail Federation, 152 million people plan to shop during Black Friday weekend - up from 138 million last year. With an increased number of shoppers comes an escalated risk for identity theft, and an infographic recently released by ID Watchdog speculates on data breach and identity theft during the upcoming shopping weekend. What researchers found was that if a retailer recognizes a problem, only 21 percent are prepared to notify customers, meaning 79 percent of victims won't even know their identity has been compromised. Furthermore, the infographic showed that there will be at least 9 million online shoppers during Cyber Monday, and up to 75 percent of their identity information will be vulnerable to data breach. "There will be a wealth of consumer data including credit card numbers, email addresses, etc. circulating this weekend which creates a prime opportunity for hackers to strike retailers," said Mike Greene, CEO of ID Watchdog. "It only takes being right once for a hacker to successfully steal the personal data of thousands of customers."