University of Maryland University College Professor , chair of UMUC鈥檚 Cybersecurity & Information Assurance Program, lent his expertise to the Oct. 17 article 鈥,鈥 written by financial writer Adam McCann for the personal-finance website, WalletHub.

In the article鈥檚 鈥淎sk the Experts鈥 section, Dasarathy discusses how to safeguard personal information from cybercriminals and provides his perspective on a variety of related questions, including whether:

  • The explosion of social media plays a role in facilitating cybercrime
  • Authorities should test credit bureaus for security breaches on a regular basis
  • The federal government should create a uniform process for assisting identity-theft victims in restoring their name
The article cites the most recent Identity Theft Resource Center鈥檚 鈥淒ata Breach Report鈥 figures showing that between January 2005 and today, nearly 9,400 data breaches have occurred鈥攁ccounting for more than 1.1 billion compromised records.

WalletHub developed its 2018 鈥淪tates Most Vulnerable鈥 rankings by comparing data from all 50 states and Washington, D.C., on identity-theft complaints per capita, the average loss-amount due to fraud, and eight other criteria to determine who is likely to have the greatest exposure to cyber theft and fraud. While, for certain, geography plays a role, Dasarathy and other experts agree that practicing good cyber hygiene wherever you reside鈥攆ollowing well-documented best practices for securing personal data鈥攇oes a long way in keeping you safe online.

Find out how fared in the WalletHub study and read for protecting your personal information.