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Learn How To Be Safe Online
Identity theft has no doubt eroded the
confidence of many
people on online buying and selling, and to a large extent lowered
business. You are at a potential risk when you make any
purchases
online because there is no way to confirm that the person you are
dealing with
is a genuine business person.
How then can you be sure that you are safe online? This article aims to
keep you
abreast of the tricks online marauders use to steal identities of
genuine
internet users. Enjoy.
Identity theft - Are You Safe Online?
Gartner Research, a US based research company estimated
that 57 million Americans had received spurious e-mail from hackers or
cyber-thieves impersonating legitimate services.
They further
estimate that nearly 11 million have clicked on the link in a phishing
attack email and 3 percent of those attacked remember giving personal
information to the thieves.
We are continually warned by banks,
PayPal and others to avoid responding to these authentic looking
'lures', but how do we prevent ourselves from swallowing the bait? And
even when we know a site is genuine, can we trust the operators with
our details?
From Gartner's figures and one's personal experience
it is obvious that such attempts at identity theft are undermining the
confidence we place in our everyday email and internet transactions.
This
has led to greater pressure on services to provide improved security
and more involved processes for users to authenticate themselves.
Banks
and financial services suffer direct losses from ID theft that cost US
banks and card issuers about $1.2 billion last year, according to
Gartner. We might add that these losses have to be met in the long run
by consumers through fees and charges.
Large organizations have
the resources to devise and implement sophisticated security measures
to protect the ID of their customers. Where does that leave the 'small'
operators, such as the gold exchangers, merchant account operators,
online auctions, etc?
Even where sophisticated systems are in place, we may
still be vulnerable. Banks constantly warn about replying to hoax
emails asking you to verify your details or opening virtual postcards.
Harder
to spot are emails that may contain worms or Trojan viruses that can
place spyware on your PC which may transmit information or give control
to a remote user. Keystroke loggers, for example can record and send
your passwords and logins to an invisible thief.
Keeping up to date with firewalls and virus protection
programs that YOU install, is obviously an essential step that we can
all take to improve our security.
Technology notwithstanding, the ultimate security lies with
human actions.
Already
we have seen a number of online e-money exchanges develop new
procedures whereby we have to send them ID documentation often
including photo ID, before we can use their services. Even the act of
emailing scanned documents is not 100% secure. If hackers can access
email accounts and intercept such transmissions then ID theft can occur
without either the sender or receiver being able to prevent it.
This in itself raises further concerns.
In an
attempt to make payments to local and international merchants, a
customer can be putting himself at risk by passing on sensitive bank
and personal ID information to companies who may or may not have
suitable safeguards in place to protect that information.
Can you be certain what happens to that information you have
given to numerous online companies?
Yes the online webpage is 'encrypted' and you feel it is
'secure', but who has access to that information?
Can
that MLM company or money exchanger keep your ID secure? Do they have
responsibility to limit access to your information? If so how do they
execute that responsibility?
Where are the safeguards? What eventually happens when
I send a copy of my bank statement to someone I don't know in Malaysia
and that company disappears a few months later? Speaking from personal
experience, this happened to me with the demise of a popular investment
program. I wonder who now has that information. I have no way of
knowing if it has been destroyed or sold on to those constructing fake
ID's. There were thousands of members who each gave names addresses,
bank account details, passport and licence details. Why were we
required to give them this level of information and proof of ID? The
reason: Because they were trying to prevent theft and fraud by
unscrupulous types. We never heard anymore from the company about our
lost funds - no refunds, no apologies and no assurance about the fate
of our records!
A cynic might even be forgiven for thinking that some
of the gold exchanges which seem to come and go with alarming rapidity,
could be nothing more than elaborate fronts for the collection of
consumer ID's that could be on-sold who knows where.
If I decide
to join similar programs in the future and decide to give them false ID
as a form of protection, I have to join the shadowy world of secret
offshore accounts complex and costly money transacting. I then leave
myself open to the likelihood of increased scrutiny from authorities. I
do not believe this is an option for the average person with limited
funds.
In their response to organised crime and potential
terrorist funding, governments restrict the easy transfer of cash from
one place to another.
Understandably, in order to comply with
regulations covering the tracking of the movement of money abroad,
money exchanges need to be able to identify users and exclude
unscrupulous money launderers as far as possible, but without improved
internal security measures how can the average user feel safe? The
recent demise of such providers as Intgold and Stormpay does nothing to
reassure us.
Just to be clear, In general I have no problem with
paying online. What should concern us is the (lack of) security of our
data once it has been given to a merchant. How well do they store your
data? Do they restrict who sees it or copies it? Even the credit card
companies outsource, so how can it be secure?
When one considers the sheer volume of material
transmitted every day, the probability of several bytes of your
information falling into the wrong hands must be considered extremely
small.
If sensible precautions are taken at your end and you only
deal with people you trust and use large well-established
intermediaries to make your payments so you bring a level of protection
between you as customer and the seller, you should be able to feel
comfortable in your transactions. But you need to beware of how much
information you give strangers - just because they ask you for it!
Do
you give up driving because people are injured or killed daily in car
accidents? No you maintain your vehicle, obey the road rules and keep
your wits about you!
Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Identity Theft
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