You’re a regular citizen, not a multimillionaire. You don’t have access to anything hackers would want, like government information or the designs for the next iPhone. You don’t flaunt your cash, and you don’t leave your passwords lying around. So why not let your eyes glaze over when you hear someone mention a “data breach”?

Because the criminals trying to get your money don’t care how much you have — they just care that it’s easy to get. And yes, money remains the key motivator in cybercrime — 76 percent of breaches were financially driven, according to Verizon’s annual Data Breach Investigations Report. The 2018 report analyzed more than 53,300 security incidents — including 2,216 confirmed data breaches — spanning 65 countries.

Victimization can happen in minutes or even seconds, with crooks reaping more than enough information in that span. Exacerbating the problem, more than two-thirds of breaches weren’t discovered for months or more.

Often, we have to rely on the businesses with which we interact to protect our information. But the average person does plenty to subject himself — or his employer — to a data breach.

Common online mistakes make it easy for crooks to pocket your payment card data, personal information or intellectual property — almost as if you routinely left your passwords on your desk. About a fifth of breaches stemmed from errors such as not shredding sensitive information, accidentally emailing the wrong person, or misconfiguring web servers, Verizon’s report found. And you know those emails purportedly from the IRS saying they just need a little info so they can send your tax refund? Such phishing campaigns still trip up an average of 4 percent of their targets, and the personalization of some can make them tough to spot.

A few tips to avoid becoming a cybercrime victim, some from Verizon and others from antivirus software provider Norton:

• Update your anti-virus and other software regularly.
• Encrypt sensitive data. Given the incidence of cybercrime, you very well could become a victim, but encryption makes your information useless to crooks.
• Be smart about passwords. Make sure they’re strong, don’t use the same one on every site, and change your passwords regularly. Password management applications can help.
• Limit how much of your personal information is available on social media sites.
• Make sure your home network is secure. That means a strong password and a VPN, which encrypts data leaving your devices until it reaches its destination.
• If you have an account with an organization that has been the victim of a big security breach, change your password and find out what information could be at risk.
• Report suspected cybercrime to authorities.

Companies that store your personally identifying information have a legal obligation to keep that data secure. Privacy laws protect consumers and employees who have been victimized by data breaches; privacy lawsuits allow victims to recover their financial losses, and, in some cases, statutory damages. If your employer or tax preparer has been negligent with your data, contact Keller Grover at 866-663-3308 for a free consultation.