By Kezia Bryant
With plastic quickly replacing cash, the resulting paper trail makes identity theft an increasingly common crime. According to the annual Federal Trade Commission report, consumers reported $1.1 billion in losses last year as a result.
“Prevention is fairly simple: secure the information you do not wish a third party to know, or at least make it difficult for someone to access the information,” said Robert M. Barker, associate professor of computer information systems. “In many cases, identities are compromised because of carelessness on the part of the victim.”
While anyone is susceptible, data compression and coding Professor Ahmed Desoky said that college students pose a more serious risk. “They spend lots of time on the computer. I have kids in college; they shop online and they don’t think rationally.”
Not only do online activities open up the opportunity for identity theft, but simply owning a laptop further broadens that opportunity for the perpetrators. Consequentially, “a laptop with no password and unencrypted files can be a gold mine to a thief,” Barker said.
Although online shopping is a growing trend and ideal for college students who are usually working with limited budgets of both money and time, there are ways to protect one’s self.
“It is very important for you to examine the address to see if it is a secure link,” said Desoky. Typically it starts with ‘http: //’ but if you enter a personal account, such as an online bank account, ‘https: //’ should be the beginning of the address; the’s’ indicates the site is secure.
Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway and Representative Robin Webb have introduced identity theft legislation that may close loopholes in current law, make businesses accountable for safekeeping of personal information and expedite recovery process for victims, but neither Desoky or Barker believe it will be of much use. Barker said that it will be “too little, too late and difficult to enforce.”
“The technology is here, the government just needs to put more money forth in using it to monitor these [fraudulent] activities,” said Desoky.
Even so, the government cannot be made responsible for the carelessness of the victims. Barker makes it clear, “Many ID’s are stolen because the victims make it easy.”
