Earlier this week, federal prosecutors charged Miami, Florida resident Albert Gonzalez -- a prolific hacker known online as "soupnazi" -- with stealing 130 million credit card accounts by hacking into retail computer systems. It was dubbed the biggest data theft in history.
Though identity and data theft has increasingly become part of the public consciousness, your data may not be getting any safer. The number of reported data breaches in 2008 increased by almost 50 percent from 2007, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center's annual report . While 35 million data records were likely breached last year, there are a handful of especially massive cases of information theft that have hurt consumers and ruined lives over the past decade.
Gonzalez, for his part, broke his own previous record of 40 million accounts stolen. But as far as notorious identity thieves go, he's certainly not alone. We've compiled a list some of the worst incidents of data theft in the past several years. Check out our PHOTOS below.