Email Scam Essay

Information has emerged of a new phishing scam marking Australian clients of Microsoft Office 365 products, possibly crippling businesses through the busy pre-Christmas period.

Personal data are regulated by United Nations and urges States to implement effective measures to ensure that information concerning a person´s private life does not reach the hands of person who are not authorized by law to receive,process and use it.Thus private data are protected not only by law of States also by international laws, and concerning computer misuse

Time Newspaper has learnt that it's not surprising that Internet companies have electronic dossiers that contain personal information for individuals who subscribe to the websites. Generally, these companies have obtained the information from people based on individual's visit to the website, sent and received emails, tagged photos, and searches people carry out. However, the extent of personal information known by these Internet companies has remained largely unknown as well who they provide and/or sell this information to. However, Internet companies continue to gather lots of personal information from different people who focus on carrying out online activities on a daily basis. Currently, it's estimated that these firms gather personal information from nearly 500 million users but are hesitant to provide this information to the other firms or individuals. As their unwillingness to share has attracted significant congressional inquiry, things could finally change in California following the introduction of a bill that may force companies to disclose the kind of personal information they have gathered and how this information is being used.

Phishing is an attempt to acquire personal information by masquerading as a trustworthy entity through an electronic communication. [ Compl. ¶ 28, ECF No. 1.]

Sheng et al. (2010) conducted a role play survey among over a thousand online respondents to study both the relationship between demographics and susceptibility to phishing and the effectiveness of anti-phishing education. This study analyzed demographics of people who fall prey to phishing attacks. The authors used an online survey and found that women were more likely to fall for phishing scams than men, further, people aged 18-25 were found to be more likely to be the victim of a phishing attack as compared to the general public.

This paper will cover the topic of identity theft via the internet, phone and several other schemes. It will identify various ways in which your identity is stolen and ways which you can safeguard yourself from being victimized. I will also report what the Department of Justice is doing and the penalties associated with these crimes.

Safeguarding personal information has become more difficult than ever before with so many services on the internet that require you to enter your personal information for many

Identity theft is one of the growing crimes in the United States due to the fact people do not know how to properly protect themselves against it. Criminals use different methods to acquire the information necessary to steal someone’s identity. Some of the techniques used to commit identity theft are; stealing wallets, acquiring bank information or pilfering through trash to find documents containing PII (FBI, n.d.). Nowadays criminals are able to steal people’s identity using different procedures over the internet without having to compromise their identity. Some of the methods are social engineering, phishing, sending spam messages and malware (OLI, 2013). Criminals use these methods because with the use of technology, identity theft could be accomplished anonymously and without much effort. Also because people lower their guard about securing their personally identifiable information when using the internet, especially when using social networks, they become easy targets to

In today’s digital world, most Americans leave long electronic trails of private information wherever they go. But too often, that data is compromised. When they shop—whether online or at brick and mortar stores—retailers gain access to their credit card numbers. Medical institutions maintain patient records, which are increasingly electronic. Corporations store copious customer lists and employee Social Security numbers. These types of data frequently get loose. Hackers gain entry to improperly protected networks, thieves steal employee laptops or disgruntled workers pilfer company information.

Over the past few years the internet has become a tempting place for criminals to acquire identifying information, such as passwords and banking data. In criminal’s haste to explore the exciting features of the internet, many people respond to “spam” unsolicited emails that promise them benefits, but request identifying information, without recognizing that in many situations, the requester has no intention of keeping their promise. In some situations, criminals reportedly have exploited computer technology to acquire large amounts of personal information. With enough identifying data about an individual, a criminal can take over that individual’s identity to conduct a wide range of crimes: for example, false applications for loans, credit cards, fraudulent withdrawals from bank accounts, acquiring other goods, or privileges which the criminal might deny if they were to use their real name. If the criminal takes steps to ensure that bills for the falsely acquired credit cards, or bank statements showing the unauthorized withdrawals are sent to another address other than the victims, the victim may not become aware of what’s happening until the criminal has already inflicted substantial damage on the victim’s assets, credit and reputation (Identity Theft).

Many users are subject of Security and Privacy on the Internet issue. The term "information" now is more used when defining a special product or article of trade which could be bought, sold, exchanged, etc. Often the price of information is higher many times than the cost of the very computers and technologies where it is functioning. Naturally it raises the need of protecting information from unauthorized access, theft, destruction, and other crimes. However, many users do not realize that they risk their security and privacy online.

Anyone who uses computer technology today accepts the fact that their Personally Identifiable Information (PII) may or could be transmitted, collected, and used to benefit the one who receives that information. It is our responsibility to know what PII transmissions are being made available for public use over the web. Understanding all the aspects of PII and the approaches that are to be taken to protect our privacy will make us more aware of PII. As we continue to utilize the technology available, we expose ourselves to become donors of PII. Having knowledge of what PII is and how information is being compiled to identify

Internet service providers, depending on the state in which they are located, have different policies regarding the collection and storing of personal information or data of their subscribed users. In the United States of America there are many legislative proposals such as “Do not track me online act of 2011” or “Do not track kids act of 2011”, such proposals were shaken by the lack of a strong basis and sustainability. Everything changed in 201222, when the security control and the quality of personal data protection have been passed on both to the consumer's concern and to the concern of search engine companies. The report of the Federal Commission states that through this protection, the consumer will choose if he wants his information to be used by third parties. This report was subsequently integrated into consumer privacy law, a report proposed by US President Barack Obama23. Giants such as Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, or Mozilla will offer the user the ability to choose whether he wants his data to be used by other companies. The only problem with this proposal is that there is no agent or organization applying this measure, the

Being the fastest growing crime of today, it is estimated that every 79 seconds an identity is stolen (Consumer Reports 13). Empty promises made by solicitors in spam e-mail offer a free gift in exchange for personal information. These solicitors have no intention of sending any free gifts, but their scams help them obtain the private information desired. If enough information is given, criminals are able to apply for credit cards, apply for a fraudulent loan under the victim’s name, and make illegal withdrawals from random bank accounts. This is only one of the many ways a person’s identity could be stolen (O’Reilly).

Privacy concerns on the web have become an undesirable consequence that people face with cyber technology. The ability of computers to gather and store unlimited amount of information from the internet raises privacy issues concerning an individual’s informational privacy. A person’s right to informational privacy is the ability to control the flow of their personal information, including the transfer and exchange of that information. An invasion of informational privacy denies people the right to control who accesses their personal information. Many internet users are unaware that they are more likely to compromise their privacy when using the internet services such as search engines and social networking sites. The internet provides access to an incredible amount of information from all over the world. Some internet users use the internet exclusively as a source of information while other internet users use the internet to create and disseminate information for others to use. However, the vast amount of information floating on the internet would not