Identity Theft

Identity Theft

Introduction

Identity theft is the illegal use of personal data and personal attributes that make a person unique in comparison with other people, or misuse of sensitive personal data of another person such as, name, personal identification code, document or bank card, the person who caused material or moral damage. Personal data represent the identity of any person who may be reflected in the characteristics or activities that are enough to recognize on other people.

Moreover, identity theft is categorized as any type of fraud, which results in the theft of personal information, such as passwords, user names, bank details, credit card numbers, etc. Theft of data users' access to the account is the most common type of online fraud. Attackers often use phishing attacks to steal personal information. Researchers have identified a number of ownership groups that most often exposed to theft from a computer user credentials for access to financial systems, to Internet sites and instant messaging, e-mail addresses, passwords to online games. For the implementation of theft are often used malware or social engineering methods.

In addition according to the stats, identity theft is an issue that affects more adults than children. However, young people can also be victims of identity theft, and can go undetected for many years until the time comes to open your own bank account, or to request a loan for studies, for example. In fact, a study conducted in early 2010 showed that young people between 16 and 24 years are more prone to fraud online than any other age group, as are more likely to make purchases and manage your life online (Palmer, 2012).

Discussion

In 2012, American consumers have been hit by the highest level of identity theft in the last three years although most of the losses on account of these scams have been absorbed by banks and merchants, according to a new study from research analyst in this regard. Furthermore, incidents of identity fraud affected 5.3% of American adults last year, according to a 5249 study done by Analytics Companies. This is above the 4.9% recorded in 2011 and 4.3% in 2010. In addition, the company also released the total number of victims of identity theft in 2012, which reached 12.6 million. At least half of these victims are not defrayed the costs of fraud. For those who had to pay for the hits, the average cost rose to $ 365 ...