People have started to experience data loss and theft in a new way. Breaches have settled into a kind of modern malaise, akin to traffic or errands. They are so frequent and so massive that the whole process has become a routine.

Online data, like usernames and passwords, have been leaked and hacked with such frequency and in such great quantities (a hacker stole more than a billion Yahoo! email accounts in 2013), that savvy people treat their credentials as violated in advance. Breaches of more sensitive data, like bank, social security, address, and health or employment records, have also become common. Home Depot, Target, Sony, Anthem, the Federal Office of Personnel Management, and other recent violations felt shocking and violating at first, but over time that sensation has waned. With over half of the entire U.S. adult population potentially exposed by the Equifax breach, what’s left to do but shrug and sigh? I’ve got so many stacked-up subscriptions to credit monitoring services from previous consumer breaches, adding another one would be superfluous.