an article by Jessica Guynn for USA TODAY [via ResearchBuzz Firehose with grateful thanks]
After a restorative getaway last July – a week in Stockholm, another exploring Norway’s fjords and a picturesque hike deep into the peaceful wilds of western Sweden’s forests – Christopher Lane returned home to his Chicago condo and an overflowing mailbox.
A nondescript envelope stamped “Important Update – Open Immediately” caught his attention. Inside was an alarming notice that his medical and financial information had been stolen.
“As the news sank in, I felt dizzy with shock,” said Lane, 53, a professor of English and the medical humanities at Northwestern University.
Details of the data breach were scarce. The company had filed for bankruptcy. Advice from a helpline was “next to useless,” Lane says. He had no way of knowing how much of his data had been compromised or what the consequences would be.
Lane channelled his helplessness and frustration into Side Effects, his mental health and public health blog at Psychology Today, to help others in similar predicaments and raise awareness.
As breach after breach exposes the vulnerability of systems that are supposed to guard our private information, Lane’s experience has become distressingly common. So have his feelings about it.
Think of it as a hidden but growing epidemic.
Mental health professionals say data breaches and other cyber crimes are increasingly taking a heavy psychological toll on the millions of Americans whose personal information is plundered by fraudsters.
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Labels:
cyber-crime, identity_theft, data_breach, mental_health,
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