There seems to be no end to the string of data breaches that almost daily expose our personal data to potential abuse. What's more disturbing is that many if not most data breaches are the fault of employees and insiders. Possibly someone just like you.

In two of the most recent cases, a Disney contractor was arrested for trying to sell customer names and credit card numbers on the internet, while a database administrator of a major check clearing company was charged with stealing and trying to sell nearly 3 million customer records.

So I did a quick study of the most recent data breaches and guess what? Out of 31 publicly reported data breaches just in June of this year, 24 were attributed to employees and other insiders.

The good news is that very few of these breaches were as a result of dishonest insiders. But the bad news is that the majority of breaches were as a result of stupid mistakes, lack of awareness, or sheer carelessness by employees.

Like the professor who took his laptop on vacation to South Africa, where it was promptly stolen. Along with the names and social security numbers of 8,000 students - highly confidential information that should never go on vacation anywhere. 

So one big way you can all help to reduce the endless data breaches that have us all on edge is to make sure you're not the next one in the dock. Take a little more care in the workplace, don't get complacent about security, and treat everyone else's data as though it were your own personal Social Security number.