Law enforcement agencies agree that the key to identity theft is the misuse of consumer address and billing information. You see the headlines almost every day. Unsuspecting consumers are being targeted for and victimized by identity theft from every conceivable angle - financial institutions, retailers, mail boxes, post offices, the Internet, email, relatives, co-workers and the list keeps growing. You never know when it’s going to be your turn. Our identity theft protection is designed to minimize your exposure and stop the potential misuse of your identity information.
When most people think of identity theft, they think about a thief using their credit cards. Although still a serious crime, this form of identity theft does not require the long, time consuming process of the two most serious forms of Identity theft known as:
Identity Assumption - The unauthorized use of your Social Security number and name to commit fraud.
Synthetic Identity Theft - The unauthorized use of your Social Security number and an alias rather than your name to commit fraud
The longer the thief can prevent you from learning of the fraudulent activity, the more the thief benefits and the more you are harmed.
To view LIVE ATTACKS occurring this very moment around the world...view the Kasperky Attack Map
Malware, also known-as malicious software, and crimeware, consist of various types of software, viruses, worms and Trojan Horses designed to run executable programs on your computer.
These programs do not need your consent to operate, and are designed to harm or secretly access your computer and its information, causing your personal information to be transmitted to hackers and thieves.
Mobile has changed the way we live and work.
Today, we’re obsessed and can’t go anywhere without our phones and mobile devices. We’re “attached at the hip”.
Today, we’re obsessed and can’t go anywhere without our phones and mobile devices. We’re “attached at the hip”.
As a result, protecting our mobile login credentials (usernames and passwords), has become critical to prevent identity theft.
Online stores we often access to download apps are unable to Detect Malware
Mobile Keyloggers are Skyrocketing
Mobile Apps can’t encrypt keystrokes and are therefore susceptible to Mobile Keyloggers
Anti-Virus Cannot Scan Mobile Device Kernel
Android and Apples iOS devices have built-in “Granted” Permissions
Data Dictionaries & Keyboard Cache Files are features used to allow auto-correct and form completion
The top security issues can be grouped around.
Device Loss - The loss of a mobile device, whether accidental or due to theft is one of the top concerns. Fortunately, mobile vendors have included capabilities to locate the device and wipe data remotely.
Application Privacy - Rogue applications can trick you into granting them privileges that enable them to access various data on your device. These can include personal information, Call and Text Message history, contents of the address book, geo-location data and browsing history. In addition, mobile OS's including iOS, log keystrokes to help auto-completion
Malware - Can often time be disguised as a rogue application and steal confidential data using attack modules such as a keylogger
The defenses against these threats are limited due to the restrictions imposed by mobile OS. Thus it is hard to detect malware and defend against it.
Monitoring non-credit card fraud is important. One particular case involved a soldier having his military ID stolen. Thieves used 20 different addresses in 6 states and opened 65 separate accounts. He incurred $265,000 dollars in damage in four months.
Stealing your medical identity is one of the fastest growing forms of identity theft. In America, 47 million people don’t have adequate medical coverage, which provides a strong incentive for thieves to steal identities. According to the FTC, between 300,000 to 500,000 people have their medical identity stolen annually. Having your identity stolen can max out your health insurance lifetime maximum coverage without you even knowing about it.
When your medical records get altered due to merging with an identity thief’s information, it is almost impossible to separate records. Doctors can end up making false diagnoses with faulty data. You could receive the wrong drugs, the incorrect blood type or a diagnosis of mental illness, thus creating life-threatening medical errors.
There have been instances of identity thieves using or selling Social Security numbers to defraud the IRS. Victims end up owing thousands of dollars in back taxes to the IRS for an income tax return that wasn’t their own.
Thieves gain employment using someone else’s Social Security number. In one case, the victim had her identity used by her former boss who applied for additional credit cards using the employee’s Social Security number. The employee was not aware she was a victim until much later.
Having your identity stolen could land you in jail until you can prove that YOU are not the guilty party. The burden is on YOU to prove that you didn’t commit a crime.
We protect our children from physical harm but now protecting their identity is just as important. It is not uncommon for a child to be victimized at birth from records stolen from the hospital. There is no cost to the thief to "inventory" this personal data, so they can wait months or years before they decide to sell the information or commit the fraud. The child can become an adult before finding out their identity has been stolen.
Services are not available in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Maine, Vermont and Utah.
