UCLA just admitted that not only had the personal information of around 800,000 students, former students, faculty and even sudent parents been compromised by a hacker, the hacker had undetected access to the University's computer systems for at least a year.

Of course we probably wouldn't even have heard about the incident if it weren't for the new data protection laws that require orgizations to publicly disclose data breaches. And while the University offered those affected some canned advice on what they can do if they're worried about becoming a victim of identity theft as a result of the breach, the college did not offer the usual "one year of free credit monitoring for everyone" that has also become a stock response to embarrassing data breaches.

Maybe they figured that too few victims would take them up on the offer to bother - which might have been a good reason to offer it to everyone while actually spending very little in the end.

MSNBC reporter Bob Sullivan wrote an article earlier this year that highlighted how few potential victims actually take up offers of free credit monitoring after they receive one of those dreaded breach disclosure letters.  In some of the most notorious breaches, including LexisNexis, Choicepoint, Citibank and Wells Fargo, only around 6% of people offered free credit monitoring actually took them up on the offer.

And the reason? According to research firm the Ponemon Institute, most consumers still either don't believe the offers are anything other than a gimmick, or don't trust the provider of the service.

A sad but understandable indictment of the state of the credit monitoring industry, and of a security solution that I think is one of the most valuable available to every consumer.