Problem Of Identity Theft Research Articles

Wild, Wild Theft: Identity Crimes in the Digital Frontier

Identity theft is a pervasive and expensive problem. Not only does the crime incur a significant financial and mental cost on the victim, but also exhibits a financial toll on the organizations that are swept up in the crime. Yet, while there is some research on the offender part of the identity theft problem, much less research has been devoted to identity theft victims and almost no research has examined victim attempts at remediation. This article examines how the use of a nonprofit victim service organization, the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), affects the experiences of identity crime victims with respect to a variety of problems. Findings reveal that victims incur many problems related to identity theft, that many problems linger over time, and that some services are useful in helping them manage the crime’s after-effects.

Identity theft as a result of breach of personal data protection in the light of the GDPR, criminal laws and other legal regulations in the era of increasing cybercrime

This paper is aimed to draw attention to the widespread problem of identity theft in virtual space as a result of increasing technological progress and the increasingly significant involvement of society in cyberspace, which has become an area not only of culture and entertainment, but also work space, as well as the space for ordinary daily activities where flow, disclosure and deliberate or unintentional transfer of personal data take place – unfortunately, often without any precautions. The multitude and diversity of both guidelines and other legal regulations suggest that the field of personal data protection and cyberspace security is highly evolving and deserves special attention in a time of intensive implementation of IT solutions; this field requires the highest possible degree of adaptation. Importantly, drawing attention to the path of identity theft, most often initiated by a simple human error or negligence, leads to the conclusion that raising awareness in this area is crucial and that as much attention as possible should be devoted to this issue.

The Crime of Identity Theft as an Aftermath of the Development of Modern Technologies – Legal and Criminological Aspects of the Phenomenon in Poland

AbstractThe problem of identity theft is current all over the world. Nowadays we can even observe a tendency for an increasing occurrence of this kind of behaviour. The rapid development of new communication tools and the Internet has made it easier to commit a crime of identity theft than ever before. Despite this seemingly obvious trend in the world, in Poland since 2011, when this phenomenon was criminalized, convictions for identity theft are still one of the rarest situations. Identity theft as a proportion of general identified offences in 2017, according to Police statistics, was only .30%. The paper will present selected legal aspects of identity theft from the Polish Criminal Code, as well as criminological analysis of the phenomenon in Poland. The results of research on identity theft conducted in the District Court in Białystok on court files that ended in a final court judgment covering the years 2011–2016 will also be presented. In the course of the research process, seven cases were found and examined. The analysis was enabled by using a questionnaire, which included forty-nine questions grouped into categories, i.e. characteristics of the perpetrator of the crime, characteristics of the victim, description of the committed act, as well as the course of the pre-trial and judicial proceedings. In the paper, an attempt will be made to find an answer to the question of why the dark number of identity theft crimes in Poland is still great, and this will help characterize identity theft in the area of Białystok.

An Impact of Biometric System Applications Services on Biometric Service Market

ISO (the International organization for stadardiization) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical commission) form the specialized system for worldwide standardization. The first standard of this deals with the threat and countermeasure of biometrics and biometric system application models. Additionally, this international standard provides requirements and guidelines for the secure and privacy –compliant management and processing of biometric information. We analyze here that inclination of people towards biometric for using it as a security measure is mainly due to Identity Theft. we study various biometric system application models and analyzed that because of Identity theft problem most companies provides physical access control and logical access control services in perspective of three factors that is Business case, Technical performance and User acceptance.

"Network Neutrality"

In June 2011 I participated on a panel on network neutrality hosted at the June cybersecurity meeting of the DHS/SRI Infosec Technology Transition Council (ITTC), where "experts and leaders from the government, private, financial, IT, venture capitalist,and academia and science sectors came together to address the problem of identity theft and related criminal activity on the Internet." I recently wrote up some of my thoughts on that panel, including what network neutrality has to do with cybersecurity.

Multifactor Identity Verification Using Aggregated Proof of Knowledge

The problem of identity theft, that is, the act of impersonating others' identities by presenting stolen identifiers or proofs of identities, has been receiving increasing attention because of its high financial and social costs. In this paper, we address the problem of verification of such identifiers and proofs of identity. Our approach is based on the concept of privacy preserving multifactor verification of such identifiers and proofs achieved by the development of a new cryptographic primitive, which uses aggregate signatures on commitments that are then used for aggregate zero-knowledge proof of knowledge (ZKPK) protocols. The resultant signatures are very short and the ZKPs are succinct and efficient. We prove the security of our scheme under the co-gap Diffie-Hellman (co-GDH) assumption for groups with bilinear maps. Our cryptographic scheme is an improvement in terms of the performance, flexibility, and storage requirements than the existing efficient ZKPK techniques that may be used to prove under zero knowledge and the knowledge of multiple secrets.

Mnemonic Passwords Practices in Corporate Sites in Nigerian

Current technological drive towards paperless mode of operations, which provides faster delivery of corporate and banking services to a wider range of customers, has resulted in the problem of identity theft which is becoming a growing problem in Nigeria. There is the risk of unauthorized access, fraud and inappropriate disclosure of sensitive data. Human resources and malicious applications steal user identity, potentially resulting in a direct loss of highly sensitive information and hard currency to affected victims. To protect sensitive information, commercial and corporate sites extensively employ the use of textual passwords, which when used over an encrypted connection is vulnerable to attacks. To counter some of these attacks, many corporate sites instruct users to make use of mnemonic passwords without carefully considering the implications. This paper describes an empirical investigation performed to determine the factors influencing users mnemonic passwords practices, to analyze the strength of regular passwords and to evaluate the effectiveness of mnemonic passwords. Findings revealed that users’ context, which allows the deployment of mnemonic strategies for password memorization, is prosaic in nature and susceptible to human attackers and automated tools. Commercial and corporate sites will need these findings in order to adopt effective authentication strategies for logging customers into their sites.

The New Arizona Date Security Breach Law: A Step in the Right Direction, But Unlikely to Prevent Identity Theft or Compensate Consumers

Identity theft is a growing problem because of the increased electronic storage of personal information. Confidential personal information is available to anyone with the desire and skill to hack into a computer system. In addition, businesses routinely allow employees to maintain customers' personal information on laptops, compromising the stored information when the laptops are stolen or misplaced. When thieves obtain personal information they usually resell it, and the buyers use the information to assume a person's identity for pecuniary gain. The effects of identity theft are serious. In addition to financial harm, identity theft can impair a victim's credit history. Data security breaches also impose costs on businesses, including replacement of credit cards, lost customers, declining consumer confidence in electronic transactions, damage to reputation, and even a drop in stock price. Moreover, there is cost to all of society because people concerned about identity theft will avoid activities that require the disclosure of personal information; for example, internet banking and registering to vote. The law has taken different approaches, with mixed results, to prevent data security breaches and compensate consumers for the harm caused by the breaches and the subsequent identity theft. This Comment focuses on the new Arizona data security-breach law, Arizona Revised Statutes section 44-7501, and discusses its shortcomings in curbing identity theft and protecting consumers. Part II defines and discusses the identity theft problem in Arizona. Part III argues that a strong data security-breach law is necessary because criminal and civil remedies have failed to curb identity theft or to compensate consumers. Part IV introduces section 44-7501, discusses its shortcomings in protecting consumers, and presents recommendations to strengthen the Arizona law.

Notarized federated ID management and authentication*

We propose a notarized federated identity management model that supports efficient user authentication when providers are unknown to each other. Our model introduces a notary service, owned by a trusted third-party, to dynamically notarize assertions generated by identity providers. An additional feature of our model is the avoidance of direct communications between identity providers and service providers, which provides improved privacy protection for users. We present an efficient implementation of our notarized federated identity management model based on the Secure Transaction Management System (STMS). We also give a practical solution for mitigating aspects of the identity theft problem and discuss its use in our notarized federated identity management model. The unique feature of our cryptographic solution is that it enables one to proactively prevent the leaking of secret identity information.

Systems Plan for Combating Identity Theft – A Theoretical Framework

The Internet has made it easier for individuals and organizations to communicate and conduct business online. At the same time, personal, commercial, and government information has become a target for identity theft. The incidences of identity theft have increased substantially in the Internet age. Increasing news reports of bank/credit cards theft, as-sumed identity for economical and criminal activities has created a growing concern for individuals, businesses, and governments. As a result, it’s become an important and urgent task for us to find managerial and technical solutions to combat identity fraud and theft. Solutions to identity theft problem must deal with multiple parties and coordinated ef-forts must be made among concerned parties. This paper is to provide a comprehensive view of identity theft issue from system planner’s perspective. The roles of identity owner, issuer, checker, and protector, are examined to provide a starting point for organizational and information systems design.

The case for biometric passports in emerging markets

Since 9/11, the global security landscape has changed. The increased threat of terrorism and the universal problem of identity theft and fraud have forced governments to make a concerted effort to improve the security of their national borders. A major tool in their arsenal is the introduction of ePassports and ID cards that include biometric identifiers.

Identity Theft Legislation: The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 and the Road Not Taken

This article provides a review of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA) as it relates to the growing problem of identity theft. The article also examines other identity theft‐related proposed legislation from the 108th Congress and analyzes the effectiveness of the proposed measures. The authors conclude that FACTA represents an important step toward reducing the incidence of identity theft as well as ameliorating the damage that it causes. However, unless and until Congress addresses the extensive use and distribution of Social Security numbers and the safeguarding of data, identity theft is likely to continue to wreak financial and social havoc.

ID theft: the US legal fight back

“We're taking an important step today to combat the problem of identity theft, one of the fastest growing financial crimes in our nation. Last year alone, nearly 10 million Americans had their identities stolen by criminals who rob them and the nation's businesses of nearly $50 billion through fraudulent transactions. The bill I'm about to sign sends a clear message that a person who violates another's financial privacy will be punished. The Identity Theft Penalty Enhancement Act also prescribes prison sentences for those who use identity theft to commit other crimes, including terrorism. It reflects our government's resolve to answer serious offences with serious penalties. This good law is part of a broader effort we've waged in recent years. The US Postal Inspection Service, the FBI, and Secret Service are working with local and state officials to crack down on the criminal networks that are responsible for much of the identity theft that occurs in this nation. The Federal Trade Commission is training local law enforcement in the detection of identity theft. The Commission has set up the ID Theft Data Clearinghouse, which keeps track of complaints across the country, and provides those records to prosecutors seeking to take down organized rings. The law I sign today will dramatically strengthen the fight against identity theft and fraud.”

Identity Theft, Privacy, and the Architecture of Vulnerability

This Article contrasts two models for understanding and protecting against privacy violations. Traditionally, privacy violations have been understood as invasive actions by particular wrongdoers who cause direct injury to victims. Victims experience embarrassment, mental distress, or harm to their reputations. Privacy is not infringed until these mental injuries materialize. Thus, the law responds when a person's deepest secrets are exposed, reputation is tarnished, or home is invaded. Under the traditional view, privacy is an individual right, remedied at the initiative of the individual. In this Article, Professor Solove contends the traditional model does not adequately account for many of the privacy problems arising today. These privacy problems do not consist merely of a series of isolated and discrete invasions or harms, but are systemic in nature. They cannot adequately be remedied by individual rights and remedies alone. In contrast, Professor Solove proposes a different model for understanding and protecting against these privacy problems. Developing the notion of as used by Joel Reidenberg and Lawrence Lessig, Solove contends that many privacy problems must be understood as the product of a broader structural system which shapes the collection, dissemination, and use of personal information. Lessig and Reidenberg focus on of structures that function to exercise greater dominion over individuals. Solove argues that in addition to architectures of control, we are seeing the development of of which create a world where people are vulnerable to significant harm and are helpless to do anything about it. Solove argues that protecting privacy must focus not merely on remedies and penalties but on shaping architectures. Professor Solove illustrates these points with the example of identity theft, one of the most rapidly growing types of criminal activity. Identity theft is often conceptualized under the traditional model as the product of disparate thieves and crafty criminals. The problem, however, has not been adequately conceptualized, and, as a result, enforcement efforts have been misdirected. The problem, as Solove contends, is one created by an architecture, one that creates a series of vulnerabilities. This architecture is not created by identity thieves; rather, it is exploited by them. It is an architecture of vulnerability, one where personal information is not protected with adequate security. The identity thief's ability to so easily access and use our personal data stems from an architecture that does not provide adequate security to our personal information and that does not afford us with a sufficient degree of participation in the collection, dissemination, and use of that information. Understanding identity theft in terms of architecture reveals that it is part of a larger problem that the law has thus far ignored. Solove then discusses solutions to the identity theft problem. He engages in an extensive critique of Lynn LoPucki's solution, which involves the creation of a public identification system. After pointing out the difficulties in LoPucki's proposal, Solove develops an architecture that can more appropriately curtail identity theft, an architecture based on the Fair Information Practices.

Did Privacy Cause Identity Theft?

This essay argues that the decline of public identities over the past three decades, combined with increasing secrecy in the process of identification, is the root cause of the burgeoning problem of identity theft. Identity theft is easy because impersonation increasingly takes place in private transactions that are invisible to the victim. The essay compares two proposed solutions: Professor Daniel Soloves' architectural approach and the author's Public Identity System. Both would make the identification process transparent to the person identified, put imposters at risk by requiring personal appearances, and ban the use of social security numbers as passwords. But the two writers take opposing positions with respect to continued secrecy of the information used to identify consumers. Solove would maintain the link between identification information (name and social security number) and personal information (information descriptive of the consumer or the consumer's circumstances) and seek to impose better security to keep all of it from thieves. The author would sever the link between the two kinds of information, make identification information - which is harmless - public, and allow consumers to use it to create public, thief-proof identities. The essay explains the operation of the Public Identity System the author proposed in Human Identification Theory and the Identity Theft Problem, 80 Texas Law Review 89 (2001) and addresses Solove's objections related to the public display of social security numbers, consumer profiling, stalking, marketing abuse, and other aspects of the proposed System.

Human Identification Theory and the Identity Theft Problem

This paper builds on the theory of human identification proposed by Professor Roger Clarke and uses the product as the basis for a proposed solution to the identity theft problem. The expanded theory holds that all human identification fits a single model. The identifior matches the characteristics of a person observed in a first observation with the characteristics of a person observed in a second observation to determine whether they are the same person. From the theory it follows that a characteristic used for identification in the credit reporting system, such as social security number, mother's maiden name and date of birth, must be known to all entities participating in that system. Because those characteristics - and any substitute for them - must be distributed so widely, it is unrealistic to think they can at the same time remain secret. Hence the current efforts to curb identity theft by keeping personal information secret are doomed to failure. As an alternative solution to the identity theft problem, this paper proposes a system by which persons concerned about identity theft can register their identities through a government agency that will make their names, social security numbers, and non-sensitive contact information publicly available on an open-access website. Credit grantors and credit reporting agencies would have the option to contact the registrant to verify that he or she is in fact the credit applicant. Creditors who opted to use the system to identify a borrower would retain their current exemption from legal liability for misidentification. Those who did not would be liable for misidentification under common law principles, including theories of defamation, invasion of privacy, and negligence. In cases in which credit grantors and credit reporting agencies used the system, the effect would be to give the individual person control over the process of his or her own identification in credit transactions, with no meaningful loss of privacy.