Identity Theft Prevention

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Moraine Valley Community College *

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130

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History

Date

Dec 6, 2023

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docx

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Uploaded by CoachFreedomCapybara33

Bryant 1 Tucker Bryant Professor Lamothe Online Perspective on the Hist. of Computers / ITEC 1001 Sect. 03 26 February 2023 Identity Theft Prevention Identity theft has been a growing concern globally for individuals and businesses alike. The concept to some of trying to steal someone’s identity may sound a little odd because you are you no one can copy you, but online they can and as the world moves more into the digital era identity theft becomes a growing issue. People can steal anything from a little password to an account of yours up to your Social Security number just so they can pose as you or steal important information and cause you harm; the worst part is you might not even know that you’re a victim, but you could be held accountable for their actions. According to a report by the Identity Theft Resource Center, in 2021 alone, there were over 1,800 data breaches and over 6 billion records exposed (ITRC 6). These numbers are alarming and highlight the need for individuals and businesses to take protective measures to mitigate their risk of becoming a victim of identity theft. Throughout this essay, protective measures that people and businesses can take to reduce their risks will be explored and it will be discussed whether the federal government should put in place stronger protective measures to protect the public. The most important thing for a person wanting to keep their information safe is their Social Security. Your Social Security is used to prove that you are really whom you say you are. Under that number, it shows your full name, places you’ve lived, your driver’s license in its entirety, and a whole load of other personal information about yourself. This is the holy grail for people

Bryant 2 trying to steal your identity, if they have this, they can actively pretend to be you, they have access to confidential information about yourself, and even if you do recover your Social Security sometimes it might be too late to protect your information. The numbers on that card represent you, which is why it is the single most important document involving your information. Because of this, it is important to keep it protected. A good way to start is to not keep it on you; if you get robbed and they take your wallet, they now have more than just a bank number and money they have the embodiment of you in paper form at their fingertips. Instead, lock this number away in a safe place, like an actual safe or a hidden area, don't keep it out in the open for anyone to see or in a random drawer that someone can easily access. Another thing someone may do is store it or provide it online without thinking about if it is secure or not, don’t provide it online to any website you may deem untrustworthy, and even when you can trust it, always look for the alternatives beforehand. Any other information of yours stored online is important to keep secure too; the technology you use every day is vulnerable, it isn’t as secure as you may believe, and that’s why it is important to do everything you can to keep any of your information safe. When using technology, make sure your information and accounts can be secure. To start with, if there is a place you are sharing personal information, make sure you have a good password. Microsoft recommends that you at least use an 8-character password and there should be a certain complexity to them and should contain three of the following, Uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, special characters, or a Unicode character (Microsoft). In doing so your password should be secure enough for someone not to hack into but the more complex and longer the better, so if you feel as if it isn’t as secure as you would like it to be, you can always make it longer. Some websites also have in place a thing called two-factor authentication, which further secures your account. What it does is require you to provide a code sent to your phone

Bryant 3 number or click a link in your email before being able to log in to the account. This makes it so that even if someone gets the password right, they can’t get into the account, and it also sends the owner of the account an alert stating that someone is trying to log in with the numbers or link attached to confirm. If that is not enough security for you, some companies provide an extra layer of protection for users that pay an extra fee every month. Also, do not click suspicious links that may get sent to you. People will use these links to steal information about your account on the platform they sent it on, so make sure it is a trustworthy person or group before you click it. It is important to keep the software on your devices updated to the latest versions as well. Some companies (once releasing an updated or better version of software) tend to leave that version alone to not be messed with ever again. The issue with this is that companies normally are looking all the time for loops in their software and patch bugs all the time, but that only normally applies to their latest software. Because of this, the older software is normally not as secure as the new and as a result is easier to get broken into which jeopardizes your data. It is not only the user’s responsibility to make sure that they are safe using software, but also the company’s problem. Companies need to train employees on proper security measures to take while using the internet so that important files for the company don’t accidentally get leaked and jeopardize users’ information in the process. Companies are not held responsible for data breaches, but they do have some responsibility for maintaining that information, and it looks bad on the company if the private information of their users does get leaked, companies should make it their goal for their website to be as secure as possible because while they may not be held accountable for user scam links or data breaches their users may stop using their website if the security isn’t up to their standard.

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