We’ve grown sick and tired about covering data leaks by new companies every week. After all, data leaks and security breaches have become frighteningly common for today’s corporations. Every week, there seems to be some new story about a company losing access to vital consumer data. And that makes us (and most people) extremely uncomfortable.
Fortunately, victims of data breaches might soon have money coming their way in order to ease the pain of losing a password. According to an article by PCWorld.com, legislation is currently making its way through courts that would make companies liable for financial harm experienced by their customers as the result of a data breach.
That article also mentions that 174 million data records (including passwords, emails, user account names, and other information) was stolen in 2011 alone. Furthermore, a startling 90% of American companies report experiencing a data breach of some sort over the past year.

The bill is currently pending in Congress, and it would set a new national standard for the way in which companies – and the law – handle data breaches. In any case, this is good news for consumers. Instead of being left out in the cold when a company accidentally leaks your data to a hacker, you might be paid the compensation you owe.
But whether this law makes it through Congress or not, you’ll want to protect yourself by installing good antivirus software and making sure your passwords are all different from one another. Otherwise, a single weak link in your chain of passwords could cause your entire network of online accounts to come tumbling down. And we can all agree that that would most definitely be a bad thing.