Essay on Identity Theft

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Heath Clark
CIS 101
Identity Theft

Identity theft is a growing problem in not just America but in the world. There are many ways that one can steal someone’s identity. Some ways include: phishing, credit card fraud, libraries, and Wifi networks. Though this problem isn’t completely avoidable there are many things that you can do to protect yourself from these thieves. There are many organizations that have ahold of financial information for millions of people. These organizations are prime spots for identity thieves to feed. There was a rule that went into place on January 1, 2011. It’s called the, “Red Flag Rule”. “The Red Flags Rule applies to all financial institutions and creditors that offer or maintain covered accounts”. This rule is enforced by the Federal Trade Commission, federal bank regulatory agencies, and the National Credit Union Administration. What exactly the rule does is makes companies first decide whether or not the rule is going to apply to them and their business. If it does they must come up with a plan that is going to protect their customers from identity theft and how they are going to carry this plan out through there organization. There have been revisions made to this rule by our current president Barack Obama due to confusion on what organizations should have to put this rule into effect. Obama’s clarifications were made in 2010 while this now law was a bill. So the older versions were never actually put to use for organizations. An identity theft prevention program is important for all organizations dealing with people’s personal information. It’s going to keep your customers loyal and drive more business to you when they know they can count on you.

Original Red Flags Rule Definition of Creditors
Revised Red Flags Rule Definition of Creditors
“An entity with covered accounts that regularly extends, renews, or continues credit.”
“An entity that regularly arranges for the extension, renewal, or continuation of credit.”
“Any assignee of an original creditor who is involved in the decision to extend, renew, or continue credit.”
“Obtain or use consumer reports.”
“Furnish information to consumer reporting agencies in the course of a credit transaction.”

There are many ways that an identity theft prevention program can run. When suspicion of identity theft occurs the following actions should take place :
Contacting account holder in the manner required by applicable state law
Having the account holder change his or her password
Closing the current account and opening a new account
Refusing to collect on a red-flagged account
Notifying appropriate law enforcement authorities
Making a notation on the account
Updating the prevention program periodically
Wifi hotspots are very important in today’s society. They let anyone connect to the internet on their tablet, phone, or laptop. “Hotspots use radios to transmit data over the public airwaves”. The data that is being transferred over these airwaves contain a lot of personal information that its users are entering into online websites or apps on their devices. This makes for an identity thieves feeding spot. The data may seem to be private since you are on your own personal device but it’s not, its public transferring through the air for anyone to come up and steal it. There are different ways that a hacker can get at your personal information through Wifi. Eavesdropping is one of them. “Using sniffer software that is easy to find and use, an attacker can intercept unencrypted confidential information”. This information can range from your emails to even your credit card numbers. An evil twin attack is another common thing a hacker may do to get your personal information. The hacker sets up a Wifi hotspot that looks like one you may know but is actually one set up by someone on a laptop at the normal hotspot. These attacks can be set up from up to 300 feet away. A man-in-middle attack occurs once someone has been fooled
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