About one-third of U.S. consumers (34 percent) surveyed have been notified at some point that their data has been breached, according to a survey released by The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company (HSB), Hartford, Conn., part of Munich Re, and one in five have been the victim of identity theft.

Nearly half of those who had received a breach notification said they had been informed within the past 12 months, according to the findings from the nationwide online survey of 1,551 adults in the U.S. conducted for HSB by Zogby Analytics.

Sixty-two percent of individuals whose personal information had been breached were offered credit monitoring or restoration services and 41 percent took advantage of those benefits.

Asked when they discovered their identity had been stolen, 38 percent said when they applied for credit, were notified of a fraudulent tax filing, were named in a collection agency action over a debt or some other financial or legal transaction. Another 37 percent found out when they received a data breach notification; 20 percent spotted suspicious activity on their credit report, and 4 percent were notified by law enforcement. 

Many victims (38 percent) didn’t know how their identity was stolen. Twenty-six percent said it was stolen online; 23 percent said it was breached from a bank, retailer or other institution; 8 percent through the loss or theft of a wallet, purse, laptop or smartphone; and 5 percent said a friend or family member. 

Recent research by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), in collaboration with TiVo, showed that ads that portray women and girls accurately are more socially acceptable and well-liked by both men and women they surveyed. 

Released by the ANA’s #SeeHer movement, the findings demonstrate that such ads work even better when paired with programming that also portrays women accurately. When ads that score high...