Typical Responses to Identity Theft Faulted

Companies, government agencies, schools and other institutions are spending more to protect ever-increasing volumes of personal data such as credit card and Social Security numbers with more sophisticated firewalls and encryption, but the investment often is too little, too late. "More of them are experiencing data breaches, and they're responding to them in a reactive way, rather than proactively looking at the company's security and seeing where the holes might be," said Linda Foley, an identity theft victim who founded the Identity Theft Resource Center.