Source: Eileen Ambrose, Baltimore Sun

Parents have plenty of advice for children headed off to college. Here’s one more piece: Protect yourself against identity theft. Identity thieves are targeting young adults?

“In today’s world, the likelihood of either your data being lost in a campus environment or, worse, your identity being stolen has never been higher,” says Scott Mitic, chief executive of TrustedID, a consumer ID theft prevention company.

One out of five data breaches occurs at colleges and other schools, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center. And the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse reports that nearly 50 breaches have occurred so far at universities. That includes the University of Maryland, College Park, which accidentally released the Social Security numbers of nearly 24,000 students in July when the numbers appeared on mailing labels.

Read Full Article: College students: a target for ID thieves