A growing number of adults say they have had personal information stolen online, the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project announced Monday.
In a poll conducted in January, 18 percent of Internet-using adults claimed to have had important personal data stolen, such as their bank account information or Social Security number. In a similar poll from July 2013, only 11 percent of adults claimed to have been victims of data theft.
Additionally, one in five adult internet users (21 percent) reported having an email account or a social networking account taken over or used without permission. That statistic has not changed since the July 2013 poll.
The findings come amid concern over the discovery of the Heartbleed bug, a two-year-old security flaw that may affect nearly two-thirds of active sites on the Internet and is motivating many to change their passwords.
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