Identity Theft Check

With Wireless networks being increasingly popular, it is important you are aware of potential security risks whilst using your computer at airports, coffee shops etc.

The security on wireless connections ranges from open, WEP, WPA and WPA2.

Open basically means public with no encryption / security to speak of. This means that any data sent from your computer can be read by anyone inbetween your laptop and the airports / coffee shops wireless box.

Intercepting this data is very simple to do making stealing usernames and passwords incredibly easy.

This is the main reason online banks require you to enter your password partially so that its a lot harder to use once stolen.

If you need to use a public network I advise not typing sensitive information and staying off banks / paypal accounts just incase.

Identity theft is a very large growing concern in today’s world. Below I have compiled a short list of preventative measures that can be taken to help keep your personal identifiable information safe.

Home, work or laptop computer – most people would not consider a personal computer as a security risk, but as soon as the computer is connected to the internet the computer becomes venerable to attack. The best way to combat this is to install hi-level security software that will protect against hackers and Trojans ECT. Another good way to help prevent security vulnerabilities is not to store hi-risk information such as bank details, scanned utility bills ECT on the computer as this information is potentially accessible to hackers and identity thieves.

Mobile phones – mobile phones have come a long way since they were just that “phones”. Today most mobile phones have some kind of data storage facilities in the form of taking notes, document editing ECT. It’s always best to never to store personal identifiable information into mobile phones as if these are lost or stolen you could be paying out more than just for the replacement of the phone.

Personal space – beware of your surroundings and who is listening in on convocations in busy environments such as shopping centers, as the person standing next in the queue could wish to steal your identity.

Your identity is a very precious, you need your identity pretty much everywhere you go in today’s society, such as when applying for a mortgage, trying to gain credit on a purchase or when leaving the country to go on holiday.
So why would anyone want to impersonate me?
The main reasons why many criminal gangs want to steel anyone’s identity is usually down to money, but not in all cases. There has been an incredible increase in the number of stolen identities for the purpose of gaining illegal entry into the UK, so they can stay and work in the country in the belief of a better lifestyle. Identity fraudsters will use any means at their disposal by taking direct action such as routing through trash cans or more increasingly virtually across the internet by applying key loggers or Trojan viruses on un-patched computer systems. Be very careful to who you give your personal details to online.

With the credit crunch still with us and money being tight, identity theft is on the increase; however there are a few things to keep in mind to help prevent your identity being stolen.
- Bank statements and general utility bills:
These are a identity thief’s dream as they contain pretty much all the information such as your bank number, sort code, address and even your national insurance number , which can all be used to apply for a credit card in your name.

- Cash Machines:
Recently there have been allot of cases of bank card cloning due to some kind of device being attached to the ATM machine that will clone your card and pin number. In most cases these can be spotted pretty Easley as there will be a large card aperture or something unusual about the card slot. In some cases reported, the ATM machine front face has been completely replaced with a false one, and only found to be false when the entire ATM front fell off.

- Mobile Phones:
As technology gets more and more advanced, we tent to place allot of our personal identifiable information into our mobile phones which an identity thief would love to get their hands on. It’s surprising how many people i have spoken too do not apply a password to their phone to make it more secure, and then one day you will probably leave it on the bus or it will fall out of your pocket and if it’s a good quality phone, the chances are you will never see it again. But as technology moves on further, to the point where we are paying for things using our mobile, it starts to make you think about who may want to steel it or where we leave it. There have already been trial’s to test the possibility of mobiles being used as payment devices, such as Barclays bank had a trial on the London underground last year, where you could use the phone to pay for travel across London, which will completely deplete the need for the currently used Oyster card.

There are many different methods used by fraudsters to acquire personal information about you. Quite often they’ll play on human weaknesses and who doesn’t have a weakness for bargains?

Discount vouchers are a great way of getting cheaper products and services, but be wary as to where they come from. Many discount vouchers come free with magazines or are handed out at events. Discount codes are often available on websites and these can be entered at the checkout point when buying online.

However, you may find discount codes being sent to your inbox. This is okay if the sender is authentic, but on some occasions, they may not be. If you are offered discount vouchers only after registering or handing over personal information, this is a good chance that this is an attempt to illegally gather information about you.

There are occasions when a genuine organisation might require or ask for your details. If you have gone directly to the company’s homepage and found the discount vouchers from there, you can safely assume that there are no problems. However, if you have clicked a link in an email, there is every chance that you aren’t on the company’s real website, in which case you should avoid entering any personal details whatsoever.

The more our lives become enhanced by technology, the easier they become, the more susceptible to identity theft we are. It’s a sad fact that the majority of people in the UK will at some point become victims of ID theft, even if they never even realise it. It may be something large scale such as having money taken from your bank account, or things like unsecured loans or credit cards applied for in your name. It happens on a daily basis, and unless you take steps to minimise the risks of IF theft you’ll become a victim, and not even know it.

To minimise the chances of becoming a victim you need to take the following advice:

If you have multiple credit cards, as many of us do, keep a list of the cards you have, together with contact details for the banks that supplied them, so that should you lose them you can cancel them quickly. When you’re out, don’t carry all of your cards with you at once. Just take one or two with you, because if you lose your wallet or purse you don’t want to lose all of them at once.

You should also get a credit report every year to see what loans and cards have been applied for in your name.

Critics of the British identity card scheme suggest that they will compromise our civil liberties in the UK, that they will be too expensive and that they will do little to counter problems like terrorism (mentioned in a previous article).

There are also concerns that ID cards will cause tension within ‘ethnic minorities’, particularly groups that have been affected most by police stop and searches. Some people have even suggested that ID cards would force illegal immigrants to avoid contact with police and hospitals.

The government has tried to assure people that whereas the government does hold information about citizens, such as medical records and driving licence information, so do many private companies from supermarkets to insurance firms.

But the government emphasises that neither they nor the public at large have a system that proves who people really are without a wide margin for abuse and fraud.

Signatures and photo IDs are no longer considered enough in a world of hi-tech and often uncontrollable dispersion of personal information. The British ID cards, however, are intended to link biometric Person-Identifying Information, like iris patterns and fingerprints with the ID document itself.

It is hoped that this would make it nearly impossible for most criminals to impersonate other people for fraudulent ends, or to create entirely fake identities for similar purposes…

CETA, the 4,000 strong network of insurance intermediaries, is urging its brokers to promote identity theft insurance.

The risk of this type of fraud is increasing for UK consumers; losses from plastic cards used for Internet, telephone and mail purchases totalled £290.5 million in 2007, although CETA believes the figure could be much higher.

While the crime is mainly associated with credit card fraud, identities are also being stolen to open bank accounts, divert mail and apply for social benefits and mortgages.

According to the network’s managing director, David Quick, identity theft insurance is relatively cheap and can provide invaluable practical assistance to victims.

Mr Quick is concerned that many organisations do not appear to look after customers’ records well and that as criminals become more resourceful, consumers are beginning to live in fear of identity fraud.

The Financial Services Authority has recently completed a survey of the data security systems of 39 firms in the financial services sector and has gone on to warn that businesses must do more to protect customers’ personal data.

The information accessible through your ID card with cover both your ‘biographical footprint’ and biometric data.

Your biographical footprint includes simple facts of your life, like your name, date of birth and living address.

When anyone applies for their ID card, the authorities will not rely solely on what is put on the application forms but will also check the names, addresses and so on against the same data that may be stored along with your National Insurance and driving license details. This is so as to avoid the possibility of forged documents to attain ID cards for people who do not really exist and to prevent criminals claiming ID cards under other people’s names

Once an identity has been checked thoroughly, biometric data will also be recorded for the applicant.  Biometrics are unique personal characteristics that are impossible to be faked except through some of the most sophisticated and expensive techniques, and even then they are not foolproof. Iris scans are currently impossible to fake.

Recording facial and iris biometrics is like having a high-quality digital photo taken.  Recording fingerprints involves just pressing them against a sophisticated reader with no ink involved at all.  Biometric indentifying technology is already being in the facial recognition aspects of the new biometric passports.

Biometric details will be permanently paired and sealed along with biographical information to create completely unique and secure identity data. So that all this can be done, applicants for ID cards will be asked to visit in person a local or mobile application centre wherever possible in an effort to make it even harder for criminals to impersonate someone else when applying for an ID card.

Once all the relevant structures are in place and become fully operational, ID cards will be issued as stand-alone documents alongside existing ‘designated documents’ such as passports and visas – although this will not be the only means to get them.

For any foreign national living within the UK, the identity card will also act as a residence permit, residence card and/or registration certificate and will be linked to the National Identity Register (NIR) in the same way as all other British ID cards will be.

As touched upon in the previous article, the scheme will be made secure by the fact that all ID cards will not rely solely on the information printed on the card to prove who you are. The details on your ID card will be checked and confirmed through the Identity Verification Service (IVS) and against your record on the NIR. A fake ID card would be pretty useless if it did not a match your record on the NIR, and faking details that appear on the NIR would be almost impossible without using exceptional sophisticated means..

The government has sought to assure the British population that the whole scheme will not be an invasion of our privacy. The NIR will only hold details of basic Person-Identifying Information (PII) that is already held by various government departments, along with certain other elements of biometric information (like fingerprints and retina scans), and access to this information is very strictly limited by the Identity Cards Act of 2006.

Information will only be held for the purposes of proving identity and nothing else. No sensitive information like medical records will be held, although there will possibly be details of criminal records for certain crimes being held on the database. It remains to be seen what will eventually be included.

Whatever the case, we will all have the right to see what information about us is held on the NIR database.