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Attorney General: Fewer North Carolinians impacted by data breaches in 2018

New data from the North Carolina Attorney General's Office shows a steep decline in the number of North Carolinians affected by data breaches in 2018.

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By
Janine Bowen
, WRAL digital journalist

New data from the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office shows a steep decline in the number of North Carolinians affected by data breaches in 2018.

The office said breaches affected nearly 2 million North Carolinians last year. That number is down 63 percent from those impacted by scams in 2017.

The Equifax breach occurred in 2017 and affected an estimated 5 million North Carolina residents.

The announcement from the Attorney General’s Office comes on the heels of news that more than 770 million email addresses were compromised in the latest large-scale date breach.

A security researcher who first reported the breach said millions of email addresses and passwords were posted to a hacking forum. It’s not clear where the information was stolen from.

Experts are encouraging people to change their passwords to keep their data secure.

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