1 in 3 in Massachusetts Hit by Data Breaches

The Massachusetts attorney general’s office said the personal information of about two million Massachusetts residents, or about one out of every three people who live in the state, has been compromised through electronic data breaches in the past 20 months.

Attorney General Martha Coakley this week released a breakdown of notices it has received in response to a 2007 state law that requires all companies doing business in Massachusetts to inform consumers and state regulators about security breaches that might result in identity theft.

The law was passed in response to a massive data breach at retailer TJX Cos.

She said nearly 1,200 data breaches have been reported, about a quarter of which were the result of intentional hacking.

Data breaches involved information from names and addresses to medical histories.