Identity Theft

Abstract

The trend of identity theft in information technology has been on rise as the digital information use and sharing is becoming common, keeping in view this trend, the research aim to identify the risk, challenges and the prevention of theft in IT. The literature search is facilitated by the online surveys with the online service providers as sample population. It is found that the major information technology identity theft is towards the privacy and infringement of data. Various software and applications are becoming increasingly available to curb these issues. Such preventive measure includes smart databases, and the security codes which safeguard and prevent identity theft. Despite, all these measures, it is yet challenging for IT to cope with theft as digital monitoring and control is complicated.

Thesis Statement

As internet crime becomes less like traditional forms of crime, the rates at which they are reported to law enforcement agencies declines.

Introduction

Victimization in society results from many types of harmful behaviors committed by individuals or groups against other people. Behaviors considered negligent or abusive, or that otherwise are considered criminal in a particular place, often depends on the amount of harm inflicted, the technological means employed, and existing laws that forbid specific activities. Technological means used to commit cyber offenses refers to a combination of networked systems, hardware devices, software tools, and methods that people use on the Internet. Modern information technology (IT) hardware like computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), cellular phones, and gaming devices can be used offline (in standalone mode), online, or wirelessly, from private or public places, in ways that are not easily recognized as illegal and that transcend more the one geopolitical or legal jurisdiction. In addition, illicit use of computing devices can facilitate many forms of traditional in-person crimes (Schatz,2007).

To fully understand cyber and Internet offenses, it is necessary to consider (1) the ways in which computerized devices and telecommunications systems came to be increasingly used for illicit purposes, (2) the myriad forms of online abuse and crime now taking place in our interconnected world, (3) the categories of people and organizations likely to fall prey to online forms of abuse and crime, (4) the social and economic impact of cyber and Internet offenses, and (5) what is being done to help prevent cyber offenses and provide services to victims of cybercrime. The large number of procedures, guidelines, practices, developed in the field of cyber crime should not surprise anyone, considering that, on the one hand, there are many organizations (international, regional or national), regardless of whether they are law enforcing authorities involved in cybercrime prevention, and, on the other hand, the methods to commit such crimes is “improved” at a very rapid pace, which is a real challenge for those who should prevent them (Schatz,2007).

Discussion

Studies of internet crimes against businesses routinely find that a relatively large amount of internet crime is not reported to any law enforcement agency. Overall, the FBI (2005) found that 9.1% of all incidents were reported to the police (including federal, state and ...