10 States Most Vulnerable To Identity Theft, Fraud

The number of data breaches in the U.S. has dropped in 2020, but cybersecurity experts continue to warn that government agencies, corporations and other organizations remain vulnerable to attacks.

A new study by WalletHub also shows that, statistically at least, residents and businesses in some states are more vulnerable to having their data stolen than others.

In the first half of 2020, the Identity Theft Resource Center documented 540 publicly reported data breaches in the nation, which was a 33% drop from the same period in 2019.

The 2020 incidents impacted 163.6 million people, which is a 66% drop from a year earlier, the center noted, adding that 2020 is on track to have the fewest number of U.S. data breaches since 2015.

But the center warned that data breaches remain a significant threat.

"While the downward trend is good news for consumers and businesses overall, the emotional and financial impacts of data compromises on both remains significant and potentially life altering, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic," the center said in a recent report. "This is not expected to be a long-term trend as threat actors are likely to return to more traditional attack patterns to replace and update identity information needed to commit future identity and financial crimes."

In the WalletHub study, 50 states and the District of Columbia were evaluated on 14 metrics covering incidents of identity theft, incidents of other types of fraud and state policies aimed at preventing data breaches.

The following, in ascending order, were deemed the most vulnerable to identity theft and fraud:

10. District of Columbia
The nation's capital ranked 10th in data theft vulnerability largely because it is tied for first with several other states in the number of fraud complaints per capita.

9. Arkansas
Victims of online identity theft in this state suffer the fourth-highest average financial losses.

8. Georgia
Georgia is among the states tied for the highest number of identity theft complaints per capita.

7. New York
The nation's financial center ranked in the top 10 in both the identity theft and fraud categories.

6. California
The state is among the top five in identity theft complaints per capita, and has the highest average loss amounts due to identity theft and fraud.

5. New Jersey
The Garden State ranked sixth highest in the identity theft activity category.

4. Nevada
The state tied for first for the most complaints per capita for both fraud and identity theft.

3. Delaware
The state topped the nation in the fraud activity category, and it was tied for first for the most fraud complaints per capita.

2. South Carolina
South Carolina was second in the nation in the identity theft activity category.

1. Florida
The state was tops in the nation in the identity theft activity category, along with tying for first for most identity theft and fraud complaints per capita.

The full report can be viewed here.