How to avoiding data theft and network security issues
Data theft is the fastest growing crime in most of the countries. According to the Federal Trade Commission, the number of identity theft incidents reached 9.9 million in 2003, and is estimated to have taken the average victim $500 and 30 hours to get resolved.
Many cases of Data Theft are performed by the company insiders, placing the responsibility and liability on the employer. The Information Security field is currently facing a growing list of concerns. Identity Theft is one of the fastest growing but still often under acknowledged security threats today.
Reasons for doing data theft
Committing Crime – Using the data of somebody to hide the real perpitrator of a crime.
Profit – Profit at the expenses beared by someone else. Sometimes the personal information is sold to others, and sometimes to more than one person at a time.
Trying to hide – Sometimes the reason for stealing another person’s data is to hide from some past “skeletons in the closet”. This could be from a prior crime, debt, a spouse or for a variety of reason for the same.
Employment – Illegal Immigrants may try to use your Social Security Number and date of birth for employment purposes or to obtain a birth certificate by doing so. Additionally criminals may also desire to steal your identity or data in order to hide a shady past, and seek legitimate employment
Methods
Misinformation – Thieves often try contacting banks and try to pose as a client. The thief is often already armed with information that the bank reqires to identify you. Things like account number, SSN#, mother’s maiden name, and many more.
Over-use of SSN# – Process of collection and misuse of over used Social Security Numbers (SSN)
Shoulder Surfing – The act of watching and listening from a nearby location as you key in your telephone calling card number or credit card number, or listening to your conversation while you are giving your credit-card number over the telephone in a public location.
Phishing – Creating and using e-mails and Web sites which are designed to look like those of well-known, legitimate businesses, financial institutions, and government agencies to deceive Internet users into disclosing their personal informations..
Pharming – Similar as to e-mail phishing. Pharming seeks to obtain personal or private information through the act of domain spoofing. Pharming ‘poisons’ a DNS server by sending false information into the DNS server resulting in a user’s request being redirected to somewhere else. However your browser will show you that you are at the correct Web site. This makes pharming a bit more serious and difficult to be detected.
Skimming – Stealing your credit or debit card numbers by capturing the information in a data storage device is a practice which is known as “skimming.” They may swipe your card for an actual purchase somewhere, or attach the device to an ATM machine where you may enter or swipe your card for any purpose.
Hacking – Hackers have various ways of obtaining your personal information. The typical user connected to the Internet hasn’t any idea about computer security, and many of these users have compromised computers. These compromised systems provide a wealth of personal information to the highly experienced hacker. And much of this gained information has a good and great resale value.
Dumpster Diving – A term which is used for going through the trash (or dumpster) to obtain helpful information in stealing an identity. It is truly amazing that the things people discard can be helpful in finding additional information about a person they are potentially targeting for Identity or Data Theft.
How to avoid data theft
Use PIN numbers wisely – Never use the last 4 of your SSN , and never use any of your telephone number or birth date. Don’t carry any one of your PIN numbers in your purse or wallet. Memorize your passwords and personal identification numbers. Don’t give out your PIN by any means or write them on your credit cards or ATM cards. Learn how to change your PIN number, and change it from time to time for security.
Shredding – Shred credit card receipts, credit card offers, and all old bank account statements. Also shred the old paycheck stubs and W-2 forms that contain your social security number and often your name and address.
Dispose of sensitive data properly – Often times information can be easily obtained by robbing your mailbox, or going through your trash (a tactic known as “dumpster diving”). Try not to allow information to be available through all these places.
Beware of billing statement cycles – Always be aware of the billing cycles and statements. If you do not receive a statement on time, inquire all about it. It could also have been diverted by a thief.
Safeguard Receipts – Protect your debit, credit, and ATM card receipts and shred them before disposing them anywhere also in your home.
Watch online transactions – If you pay bills or bank online, change your passwords frequently if possible after every transaction. If someone has obtained your username and password, changing them frequently will reduce the odd efects of them using the information, and reduce the damage a thief may cause.
Stay virus & spyware free – Always keep computers clean of Viruses, Worms, Trojan horses, Spyware and all malicious programs.
Safeguard Information – Store personal information in a ultra safe place. Consider a lock box or safety deposit box to protect SSN#, birth certificate, account information, pin nos, etc.
Question requests for your information – Never feel bad to question someone, or ask them to provide credentials to prove who they are before any dealing. Most reputable and seasoned professionals will not be upset because customers feel threatened or vulnerable.
Protect your mother’s maiden name – Maiden names are often used as passwords to access accounts over the telephone line. Be careful when using family tree tracers and all genealogy service web sites.
Never provide SSN# or Credit card info in an email – Most of the emails are very insecure, and it is very easy to search through massive amounts of email for patterns of numbers like of those used in credit card and SSN numbers.
Protect what you put on Web sites – Don’t give away too much of personal information on your business or family web sites. Full names, addresses, date of birth are too much information.
Know your Credit – Periodically order a copy of all your credit report. It could contain surprises or keys to Identity the theft issues.
Conclusion
While identity theft is not a very new concern, like many things the growth of the Internet is bringing new problems and methods of theft into the limelight of web addiction. We must question age old methods of the use of Social Security Numbers as a unique identifier of people. We must also be the advocates of changes within our companies, and educate others, and push for solid policies and the procedures for the protection of personal identities. Every day the world becomes more and more electronic, and it is ultimately our responsibility to tame this growing concern.
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