Cyber Security Publishing

All of us, no matter how careful, can become victims of identity theft. In fact, it was determined every three seconds another identity is stolen. In 2007 there were seventy nine million credit card and Social Security Number thefts according to major news media investigations. That was an increase of four million additional people over the previous years statistics, that had their identity or financial information compromised. This makes identity theft one of the fastest growing crimes in America. Anyone with a Social Security number and assets to loose should be concerned with identity theft. Unfortunately, a common belief by many people is they assume they have nothing significant for thief’s to take advantage of. Bear in mind criminals are much better than you are at making use of your information. For example; there is credit card theft where someone steals your credit card and runs up charges. Identity theft is where someone steals your personal information (social security numbe...

By this time in 2007 it should be clear to just about everyone that identity theft is a real and growing problem throughout the world, but especially here in the United States where there is so much affluence (and of course available credit). The Federal Trade Commission reports that for the 5th year in a row identity theft topped the list of consumer complaints. In this article we will explore what identity theft is, how it is most commonly perpetrated, and how big of a threat it really is to the average consumer. Credit Card Fraud versus Identity Theft When someone illegally obtains your credit card information and uses it then that is credit card fraud. It is not identity theft in the purest sense but when the government estimates the number of identity theft victims and the financial impact of identity theft it generally includes this number. The term most commonly used now is Identity Fraud which broadens the scope to include credit card fraud. In 2006 the total estimated cost of ...