The Role of Identity Theft in Identity and Access Management

Abstract

The Australian Federal Police (https://www.afp.gov.au/what-we-do/crime-types/fraud/identity-crime) report that identity crime has critically threatened the Australian community as this type of crime has generated significant profits for offenders and caused considerable financial losses to the Australian Government, private industry and individuals. Recent estimates by the Attorney-General's Department indicate that identity crime costs Australia upwards of $1.6 billion each year, with the majority (around $900m) lost by individuals through credit card fraud, identity theft and scams. More alarmingly, identity crime continues to be a key enabler of serious and organised crime, which in turn costs Australia around $15 billion annually. This chapter discusses how personal identities can be stolen and exploited and proposes a Self-learning Context Aware Identity Access and Management Framework (SCAIAM) for combating identity theft.