Identity Theft Ranks Among Consumers' Biggest Concerns, Study Says

Aside from threats to national security, identity theft is Americans' most acute concern, according to a study published earlier this week.

In their biannual Unisys Security Index, researchers at Unisys asked about more than 1,000 areas of concerns surrounding security, both physical and online. The top-ranked concern was national security, where 65 percent of individuals described themselves as "extremely concerned" or "very concerned."

Identity theft was the No. 2 concern, with 64 percent of respondents describing themselves as "extremely" or "very" concerned. Sixty-two percent of respondents said they are "extremely" or "very" concerned about credit card fraud.

Forty-three percent of respondents said they are "extremely" or "very" concerned about the security of their online transactions.

By comparison, only 23 percent of individuals described themselves as "very" concerned about a pandemic such as H1N1, and only 20 percent said they were "very" concerned about financial security, Unisys says.

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