Protecting Your Identity
Identity Theft Protection
Identity theft is a serious crime that has reached epidemic proportions in the United States and beyond. Each year, thousands of new cases are filed with local, state and federal authorities. Since the year 2000, the federal government has logged millions of identity theft complaints, adding up to billions bilked from unsuspecting victims.
Identity theft is an insidious crime that can take place both online and off. While there are relative simple measures people can take to protect against offline theft, identities are particularly vulnerable in the online world. Here the bad guys can easily access personal information and use it for their own purposes. When the crime is better understood and its methods of attack made clear, consumers can become better armed with the information they need to safeguard their online experiences.
What Is Identity Theft?
Identity theft involves a number of different crimes whereby the bad guys seek to steal another person's identifying information. This can include credit card numbers, name and date of birth, Social Security numbers, banking information and more.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission estimates some 9 million Americans alone are victimized by this type of crime each and every year. When identity thieves get their hands on personal information, they tend to seek to do several different things. They might:
- Use credit card information to make unauthorized purchases;
- Use bank account information to make purchases and/or transfer funds into their own possession;
- Use personal information, such as a Social Security number, to establish accounts in their own names. This generally involves falsely obtained lines of credit.
What Happens To Victims
While it's true that victims of identity theft are often protected by their banking institutions from direct financial losses, there are many other potential consequences. The costs involved in cleaning up identity theft incidents can still, for example, still hit a victim rather hard. While cases of theft are being investigated, victims may:
- Have their credit ratings ruined – If a bad guy maxes out credit cards, opens new lines of credit and more, the intent is not to pay the bills. The bad guy will take the money and run. As identity theft claims are processed, the victim's own credit rating can suffer.
- Have their names drug through the mud – If a bad guy assumes the identity of Person X, the real Person X can suffer from blemishes not only on their credit, but also to their reputation.
How The Bad Guys Get The Information Online
Computers and the Internet have opened the doors to a wide variety of ways for bad guys to steal personal information. Thanks to viruses, fraudulent websites and other tools, the criminals can outright steal information or dupe others into handing it over freely. Some of the tools the criminals use to part individuals from their identifying information include:
- Malware attacks – Using harmless looking emails, links and downloads, the bad guys are able to introduce malicious programs onto computers belonging to others that enable them to do a number of things. These programs, for example, might log keystrokes so criminals can glean user names and passwords for credit card and banking accounts. They might also enable the remote user, i.e., the bad guy, to access a computer to look for personal information.
- Phishing attacks – The bad guys are also very savvy at creating false websites that look exactly like those belonging to banks and other official agencies. They send out phishing emails with links that encourage people to click and answer questions. When the victim clicks on a link, he or she is taken to an official looking website. If the person puts in a user name and password thinking the site belongs to their bank, the bad guys can capture the information and use it for their own ends.
Norton 360 Helps in Protecting Against Online Attacks and Identity Theft
The bad guys are good at what they do. Fortunately for consumers, so are the good guys. Companies like Norton work around the clock identifying new forms of attack and working to defend against them.
Norton 360 software package is designed to protect computer users from a wide variety of potential identity theft attacks. This suite offers features that can:
- Stop malware attacks in their tracks – Norton 360 boasts highly sophisticated antiviral programming. It is able to defend against viruses, bots, rootkits, worms and more. By doing so, the program helps prevent harmful bits of programming from being introduced to a machine.
- Protect identifying information – Norton 360 helps protect user names and passwords from falling into the wrong hands by storing this information for automatic entry onto online forms. This means key logging programs will not be able to capture the information.
- Firewall protection – This helps prevent the bad guys from gaining access to a computer and provides a number of other benefits.
Identity theft is a serious and relatively common crime that people can defend against. Putting a lock on security in the online world calls for diligence. Norton 360 suites provide the advantage computer users need to protect themselves. In addition, LifeLock Identity Protection is the best identity protection service that monitors many personal identifiers.