The Login
By: Gamma Cpt AlDeA911
In this day and age we hear news reports about identity theft and how it affects our day to day lives. Also, we hear about how a group of “hackers” stole credit card numbers or high-jacked a phone companies user database.
What many people neglect to realise is that identity theft comes in many different formats that don’t even involve a computer. Millions of people send their credit cards numbers through the mail, in just a paper envelope, every day. They pay their bills through the mail to avoid fraud. The people that do this say they are worried about identity theft by paying over the phone or online. They don’t see that the only thing protecting their credit card number in the mail is a paper envelope that can be intercepted much easier than over the phone.
People pay bills over the phone to people without verifying who they are. People also give out their own personal information like date of birth and their addresses as well.
I myself have thrown away papers with personal information on it without blocking out or shredding it. These papers can have very personal and sensitive information on it. All that needs to happen for this one like innocuous event to come back and haunt you is have one unscrupulous neighbour dig through a trashcan and use the information they find for their own personal gain. What can you do if you see someone digging through your trash can? If you have it out side off your property, NOTHING!!! If you throw things in the trash and put it out to be picked up, it become public domain, and anyone can go through your trash.
There is a also a tool that the government has given potential identity thieves. Our id’s and drivers licences. Showing our id cards helps in the crusade in stopping under-age drinking and smoking. But when we show out id’s we are giving people access to our personal information such as our date of births, address, and possible even our social security numbers. In some states your ID is even swiped and all your personal information is transfered to the store. It can help in the fight against counterfeit IDs’ but it can also give the store access to this same info. This info can be used for the store for advertising and marketing. The scary part is that this info can be used by anyone with access to this information to harass and stalk people. Not much can be done about have to show our id’s since we show it for a good reason other than writing your congressman and ask for more security on your drivers licences.
I am not sure if you can tell an underlying theme here, ACCESS, access and security. Security comes in many forms be it protecting your identity, home or computer.
Though our focus is security we will still have our regular articles and also try out a few new ones as well. Please let us know which ones you like and don’t like. If there is something you would like to see a certain story or focus let us know as well.
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