How much of your Personal Data can be found Online, or in your garbage?
If you read my article about Online Reputation Management and checked out some of the tools, you were probably surprised to see how much data about you can be found on the Internet. With the rise of the Internet and ease of collecting data online, the typical challenges associated with privacy protection and personal information security have gotten increasingly complex.
Did you know that Identity Thefts are a very serious and increasingly prevalent non-violent crime in today’s society? While Identity Thefts used to typically be associated with victims of “dumpster divers” and pick-pockets, the Internet has added an additional layer of complexity since many Internet transactions occur without face-to-face interaction. A simple Google search can return any number of identity theft stories, all of which should give you cause for concern regarding your personally identifying information. In this first article of a two-part series, I’d like to take a broad look at Identity Theft and how it applies to the victim.
Identity Thefts - Why They Happen
I stumbled upon an interesting article called The Economics of Online Crime by Moore, Clayton, and Anderson. The article states that the industry of Online Crime (which started gaining steam in 2004) has become highly organized and efficient. In the article, it shows that personal information can fetch anywhere from $0.40 (credit card information) to $100 (bank account credentials) per unit. As you can see, when done in a large scale, this can become quite a lucrative pursuit for someone with the diligence and know-how to collect your information. All this information is then sold to specialists which steal and launder the money.
However, this is not the only reason why Identity Theft happens. PrivacyRights.org provides a few other reasons why Identity Theft is growing rampant:
- There have been documented cases of family members stealing information from relatives for personal gain or due to some sort of grudge.
- There has been an increase in cases perpetrated for personal gains by “Insiders” at organizations having access to personal and/or financial data.
Identity Thefts - How They Happen
In Identity Theft: A Personal Risk Management Approach, Robin Olson goes into detail about a number of common ways that personal information is compromised. I would caution that this is not an exhaustive list, but it definitely illustrates how easy it can be to have your information stolen:
- Theft of Purse or Wallet: There is a nearly unlimited amount of personal information here, generally due to Licenses, SSN cards, credit cards, checking accounts, birth certificates, passports, etc.
- Shoulder Surfing: By watching over your shoulder, theives can obtain login credentials to websites, PIN’s, etc.
- Postal Theft: Thieves can obtain checks, financial/legal documents, etc by stealing items from your mailbox.
- “Dumpster Diving”: By rummaging through your trash, criminals can find documents containing financial information, SSN’s, birthdates, etc.
- Skimming: These are devices (typically mounted onto ATM’s) which read your credit/bank card info and PIN’s.
- Phishing: This fairly prevalent tactic involves an attempt to get a user to enter their website credentials or personal information into a criminal-controlled website that mocks the look and feel of a legitimate website.
- Stealing Family Members’ Information: In this case, a dishonest family member steals identity or financial information from a vulnerable family member (children, elderly, etc) and relies on the family ties to protect them from legal/criminal ramifications.
Identity Thefts - Challenges to Investigation & Prosecution
According to an article by White and Fisher published in Criminal Justice Policy Review in March 2008, there are a number of inconsistencies (at both the federal and state level) in the way Identity Thefts are defined by law. This means there is tremendous variation across jurisdictions as to how Identity Thefts are reported, measured, and investigated making it difficult to provide valid data on the crime, its nature and extent, and the consequences of the victimization.
Theft of Identity can also be problematic due to the non-violent, anonymous nature of the crime. As many as half of victims have no clue how their personally identifying information was collected. The non-violent nature also means that victims typically do not find out about the crime until after the fact. More than 80% of victims learn of Identity Thefts via negative experiences (denied applications or fraudulent charges/collections) rather than pro-active notifications. This means that if you’re not one of the lucky folks to find out within 30 days (such as fraudulent charges), theft of identity could go unknown for months or years.
Identity Thefts – Consequences for Victims
Probably the most disheartening part of Identity Thefts is that the consequences immediately fall to the victim. Fortunately, federal law protects victims from being responsible for charges accumulated by the imposters. However, the consequences that do fall to the victim as the result of the thieve’s actions can be incredibly complex, messy, and time-consuming. Victims of Identity Thefts generally bear the responsibility to:
- Contact credit bureaus
- Notify law enforcement and file police reports if necessary
- Contact all creditors (loans, cards, mortgages, etc)
- Notify Banks
- Complete ID Theft Affidavits
- Contact the Federal Trade Commission
- Notify the Social Security Administration office.
- Obtain legal advice if necessary (and pay expenses out-of-pocket)
- Organize the repair process and keep a documented paper trail.
If you’re like me, you probably read that list and went “what a pain!” You are correct – the repair process after theft of identity is long, time consuming, and not at all fun.
Identity Thefts – Prevention
Check back in the near future for the remainder of this article. We will discuss a plethora of ways you can help prevent Identity Theft, and also show you a number of free and paid tools that will help you monitor your Identity and give you some peace of mind.
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