Beyond Fraud and Identity Theft: Assessing the Impact of Data Breaches on Individual Victims

By Cassandra Cross, Thomas Holt 

Data breaches, or the unauthorized access of personal information, are increasing globally as are the number of victims affected. Existing studies restrict their focus on fraud and identity theft as principal consequences of data breaches for individuals, limiting our knowledge of the extent of other harms associated with victimisation. This article assesses the impacts of third-party data breaches within a sample of 552 Australian victims. The findings note specific behavioural factors and data losses were associated with emotional, health, relationship, and financial harms. This article advocates recognition of data breach impacts beyond the financial losses of fraud and identity crime, and expanding support offered to victims in response to such incidents.

Journal of Crime and Justice, 1–24