ipl-logo

PII: The Leading Cause Of Identity Theft

1051 Words5 Pages

Personally Identifiable Information, commonly known as PII, is the leading cause of identity theft in the United States. In 2014, 12.7 million people in the United States were victims of identity fraud. Furthermore, from those 12.7 million people, there was an estimated $16 billion stolen from them (Pascual & Miller, 2015).These numbers are staggering and they do not even cover what stolen PII cost the government. In 2013 alone, the Internal Revenue Service reported that it paid out an estimated $5.2 billion in fraudulent identity theft refunds (IRS, 2014). Given these staggering numbers it is easy to understand why protecting PII is extremely important. However, to do this the average consumer needs to understand, what PII is, how PII is stolen, …show more content…

Some examples of these techniques are dumpster diving, mail theft, personal item theft, over the shoulder surfing, social engineering and the stealing of personal items. Dumpster diving occurs when someone goes through another person’s trash looking for PII. To protect from this, people should shred all of their documents that contain PII before they throw it away. Mail theft is the theft of mail that could contain PII. To combat this, people need to monitor their mail and make sure that they are getting all of their mail. Shoulder surfing is when a thief gets close enough to you that he can see you enter a computer password, ATM pin, or the password to unlock your phone or computer. Shoulder surfing can happen at any time or location. To protect from this, people need to be cognizant of their surroundings at all times and not allow people to get close enough to them to see their passwords. Social engineering is ”the practice of someone either in person, over the telephone, or computer, uses means to deceive someone else into divulging sensitive information. Usually, social engineers know some information that lead the victim to believe they are legitimate and give the information asked (Rebovich, 2015). To prevent this, do not give out any personal information to anyone you do not know and verify the person is who they say they are (Rebovich, …show more content…

Some technological schemes include, malware, spyware, viruses, trojan horses, phishing and many more. Malware, spyware, viruses, and trojan horses are malicious software designed to harm your computer, gather PII, or allow someone to remotely access your computer. To protect against these attacks people need use their computer, mobile phone and other internet capable devices wisely. They need to always have the most up to date anti-virus software available, do not open links they are not sure of, and only download programs from reputable websites. Phishing is when a thief tricks people into giving them their personal information. This can be done multiple different ways, over the phone, text, internet, social networks or even the mail. To protect against this, people need to be aware of what they post on the internet, check who is requesting information and verify that someone is who they are claiming to be (Rebovich, 2015). As stated earlier, even if people do everything to protect their PII it is not always safe, these schemes target businesses, corporations, and governments. So, unless these entities do everything right on their end, PII can still be stolen. Some examples of large data breaches include the Target breach of 2013 , Sony online entertainment breach of 2011 , and the Heartland Payment Systems breach of 2009 . In

Show More
Related
132 Words | 1 Pages

There are some many ways if Identity theft. There is when someone uses a person name, social security number. Medical Identity theft can come from a Friend, family, and acquaintances. Even by strangers, who can steal someone 's Identity who can obtain medical care, service, or equipment. They don 't have medical care.

Read More
974 Words | 4 Pages

Bill Nelson once said, “If we don’t act now to safeguard our privacy, we could all become victims of identity theft.” With the increasing amount of data that our mobile phones and tablets contain, encryption and security is becoming more vital everyday. Damon Beres, author of “What You Need To Know About Apple vs. The FBI” argues both sides as the war on privacy rights and national security continues. Although Beres uses a large amount of pathos throughout his article, he doesn’t use ethos and logos as much. When Beres does use logos and ethos though, he clearly states examples.

Read More
1108 Words | 5 Pages

Essentially, anyone can accumulate knowledge regarding “...everything from where your [dead] great-grandfather was born to what diseases you might be at risk for because of your DNA” (Naylor 12). Mark Twain’s novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, shares an aspect of identity theft similar to the fraud the article discusses. As Huckleberry and Jim drift down the Mississippi River, the days are full of peace and harmony. One day, Huckleberry walks ashore to gather some berries when two men suddenly come into view. At the moment, a mob seems to be pursuing the pair of men.

Read More
282 Words | 2 Pages

First, your social security number isn't magic, but if you know how, when, an where to use another person`s number, you`ll be able to take their identity, and single handedly destroy someone`s life. Private detective Randy Barnhart tells how simple it can be to obtain a line of credit in someone else's name, if you know how to do it. If someone has access to your social security number, all they need to do is write a single page credit application using the SSN that they`d stolen and hand it to a cashier that`s at least 18 years of age. The cashier puts the SSN into the system and a line of credit is issued.

Read More
592 Words | 3 Pages

Preventing medical ID theft has become a hot topic as Americans increasingly hear about the safety of their private medical records as more medical breeches continue to be discovered. Medical ID theft happens when a person uses someone 's identity to obtain medical services or steal money by falsifying claims for medical services. Identity thieves use a person 's Social Security number, insurance information, or other forms of identification to commit the medical ID theft. Medical ID theft can have a devastating effect on victims, causing collections issues, credit problems, and even bankruptcy. But that 's not all.

Read More
4821 Words | 20 Pages

Identity theft is a form of theft when someone assumes another individual’s identity. It is often done so as a modus operandi to gain access to personal information or other benefits from the victim’s name. There are five types of identity theft according to wikipedia which include criminal identity theft, financial identity theft, identity cloning, medical identity theft and child identity theft. The most common type of identity theft is financial identity theft, where someone gains financial access to someone else’s by assuming his/her identity .

Read More
337 Words | 2 Pages

So if identity theft is so popular and so prevalent, why can’t it be detected or deterred? Credit card companies and financial institutions have been identifying suspected cases of fraudulent activity on individual’s accounts in several manners. These transactions are being flagged based on the individuals personal spending habits, abnormal clusters on transactions that do not match the profiles established. As humans, we are creatures of habit and each one of us has our routines, favorite locations to shop and without knowing it we can be predictable in our habits.

Read More
1198 Words | 5 Pages

Every year, about 15 million people in the U.S. have their identity stolen. (identitytheft.info) Some people do

Read More
609 Words | 3 Pages

In the movie I learned that these people can know what you search for on the Internet, they can see your emails and what you buy online, among others. They do something called linakability, they take one piece of data and link to another piece of data. For example, your MetroCard and your credit card. Since your credit card is linked to everything else you do in the day, they can re-create your steps.

Read More
1103 Words | 5 Pages

The United States Department of Justice defines identity theft as any type of crime in which someone wrongfully obtains and uses another person data in someway that involves fraud or deception, typically for economic gain. Hackers, someone who exploits weaknesses in a computer system or network, currently tend to target stealing peoples identity under the persona of a new job, or free cruise. However, currently hackers barely have to try to obtain personal information. We live in a world that is technology based and the majority of our information is online for anybody to see. We must protect our information and identity.

Read More
796 Words | 4 Pages

The purpose of this article is to introduce the significance of identity theft by its damage to numerous Americans and businesses in loses, legal fees and provide statistics in which identity theft cases are currently rising. Also, the article goes more in-depth on costs and law-enforcement efforts. Christian Glotfelty works as a cyber threat analyst at Booz Allen Hamilton, Frederick, Maryland. He works with a team that manages servers and analyze organizations on potential internal and open-source

Read More
841 Words | 4 Pages

Cyber criminals use the information they collect from a victims online platforms to illegally gain access to the victims bank account and credit cards. These criminals later use this information to steal money from the victim's accounts or take loans using the victim's name (Lai, Li, & Hsieh, 2012). Driver's license identity theft: Criminals use the information they obtain from victims social media platforms to steal or forge drivers licenses that have the victim's name. They then use these stolen licenses when they are caught thus implicating the victim in a crime he was not aware

Read More
750 Words | 3 Pages

Identity theft and credit card theft are big crimes and happen a lot these days. In this article there will be many ways to make sure identity theft won’t be token. Some things that will help you prevent identity theft is using strong passwords, don’t give your social security number to people if it’s not needed, and check your money you spent on your credit card often.    What is identity theft? Identity theft is when your social security number, name, address, birthday, and other personal information is hacked into or stolen by a criminal.

Read More
3848 Words | 16 Pages

HPCOS82 title-page v 1.0 HPCOS82 Assignment number: 1 Assignment unique code: 642556 Student number: 51089165 Last name Mulaudzi Initials I.M 51089165 2 Table of Contents INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................ 3 PROBLEM STATEMENT ............................................................................................................................... 3 RESEARCH PURPOSE ...................................................................................................................................

Read More
1038 Words | 5 Pages

CYBER CRIME Cybercrime is one of the fastest growing type of crime in our society today and have also been a serious problem since it causes a lot of damages and also affect us in different ways. But before I go further let me start by telling you the meaning of cybercrime, Cybercrime is different and more heinous than normal crime that we know. This crime is committed in an electronic medium and here means read is not a requirement and is done in secret Feldman(2013). Cyber war takes place largely in secret, unknown to the general public of crimes include pornography, cyber fraud, defamation, cyber stalking, harassment, IPR theft, data hostage, money laundering, phishing, e-mail bombing, cyber war, illegal monitoring. Secondly let me talk about the effect of cybercrime in our society today.

Read More

More about PII: The Leading Cause Of Identity Theft

Related Topics

Open Document