Technology and Identity Theft

This essay explores the measures taken by the government and other agencies to combat identity theft. It also discusses the effects of identity theft on victims and suggests ways to prevent it.

Running head: Technology and Identity Theft 1
Technology and Identity Theft
Roselee Lopez
DeVry University

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What is your narrowed topic? Be detailed in your answer. You can use any of the versions
you’ve developed for prior assignments.
I managed to narrow my topic to Technology and Identity Theft. The essay look into the
organization such as the Congress and the FTC which are tasked to deal with cases relating to
Identity fraud.
Who is your primary audience or reader? Why? Be detailed in your answer about your
audience.
I intend the audience to be my fellow colleagues in the department members and my lecturer
professor -------- since this thesis is academic related.
In a sentence or short paragraph, what is your thesis statement, including your angle?
Write what will appear in your essay.
My thesis will try to cover what various task forces elected by the government in trying to
eradicate the vice of Identity theft. From my point of view, it is well to note that the task force
officials which includes the Federal Government have developed better ways to combat as well
as eliminate identity theft. The specialized units have been formed that targets and uproots the
hide outs of the identity thieves. Assistance provided by the office of the Attorney which is in the

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forefront in appointing and creating task forces groups. The attorney ensures that there is
organized meetings aimed at discussing issues brought up and try to resolve them.
My well-worn edge expresses that administration authorities have triggered an anxiety on the
governor over data fraud. On the off chance that the matters of shielding information and the
broad utilize and conveyance of Social Security numbers were appropriately tended to, it is less
demanding to stick point the immediate wellspring of data fraud. Additionally, if periodical
credit articulations were dispensed the matter would diminish.
What topic sentences will you use as the foundation of your communication? (If necessary,
add more points.)
 Who should be held responsible for the increased cases of the Identity thieves is it the
victims, Congress or the Bureau? And which measures are to be taken to ensure that these
vices are eradicated? Is the task force doing enough to curb the issue?
 What are the other methods that can be embraced to abolish Identity thieves?
 Identity fraud can be successfully wiped out by formation of a team or working groups
that represents considerable authority in battling Identity theft.
 Effects of Identity fraud on the lives of the victims socially, economically and
psychologically.
What method of organization and development will you use to develop your paragraphs?
 Introduction:

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o Identity fraud can prompt an overwhelming effect on one's monetary and
passionate dependability because of character hoodlums acquiring casualty's data
at regular intervals through the Internet or different methods for technology.
o The case of Lucy Angela who became a victim of Theft Identity despite being too
cautious on her side, how it affected her, and how she handled the situation as a
case study.
 Body:
o Government has shown will to fight against Identity theft as they have created
specialized unit that will work closely with other forces such as the police and
other stakeholders involved so as to fight this gigantic vice. The office of the
attorney has assisted in providing much needed assistance by prosecuting the
culprits responsible as well as providing legal guideline and parameters to be
adhered. To eliminate the act of Phishing as well as pharming one should be able
to create a strong password as well as encrypting the files in transit.
o The task force has been put in place that will be mandated to help to combat the
vice. The congress has created rules and regulations that will help the FACTA to
address how social security numbers should be distributed and kept safe.
o So as to eradicate and avoid this gigantic iniquity of identity theft, strict adhering
to the rules and regulation set by the FACTA should be the key. There are other
regulatory that do offer proper regulatory policies such as the Federal Trade
Commission (FTC), and the congress in conjunction with the department of
Justice on the matter relating to the online and offline sensitive information.

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 Conclusion:
o The conclusion part will try to rely on the finding gained while conducting this
type of research. In the thesis, the findings pertaining the involvement of the
government and other agents responsible in curbing Identity theft will be vital in
drawing conclusion. The conclusion shall be based on the core questions raised
above. It will also try to give alternatives that will help curb the vice and how
efficient they are.
Technology and Identity Theft
Being cautious and safe while browsing is the strength of Lucy Angela character, she
works hard and diligently to ensure that her vital information is always safe whenever she is
using the internet and other kind of technology which may make her vulnerable to the cyber-
attacks. Though she was such cautious, she at one time found herself victim of what is known as
identity theft after someone was able to bounce on her reports pertaining her credit card. After a
thorough investigation she was able to talk to her Credit Card Company insurer so as to claim
that the impersonator using her faked identity. After that she had to take further measures to
ensure that she is not the victim of Identity theft another future, she went checking with her
credit bureaus, it was at that instance that she was in deep grief after discovering that her
information had been altered to that of the thief. Lucy made several attempt to try and see her
credit report fairs for the past one year but was allowed to do so once she acquired affidavit from

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the FTC. With the help of the police, her four credit bureaus, and the FTC she was able to freeze
her credits and the hunt for the culprit bore fruits as they were able to finally able to apprehend
the thief. With that situation, Lucy could came into conclusion that the institutions mandated to
safeguard victims such as the Congress, credit bureaus and also the government agents are
responsible for the misfortune happening by not giving proper guidelines to the victims on how
to safeguard themselves. Lucy’s case is just but a way to show how easy people are becoming
victims of identity theft whenever they entrust some institutions to keep safe of their identity
information. Those systems have proved to be easy to infiltrate and acquire ones information that
will help them impersonate. Lucy was emotionally, psychologically and financially drained
during that incidence and consumed a lot of time trying to clear her name and to help the victim
be apprehended.
Lucy’s story can be used as a case study to prove that identity theft may lead increased
devastation in terms of psychological discomfort and financial drain. Identity thieves can now be
able to obtain any kind of victim’s information through the Internet or using other mode of
technology. This and other kind of stories may help many to be able to diligently handle such
cases in future, it offer a milestone to the task forces to come up with better ways of dealing with
such matters and mitigating them before they occur.
Identity theft was known to just a few in the past but since the technology growth is
increasing, thieves are more determined to advance their ways of how to be able to access once
information so as to be able to act in his or her capacity so as to uproot or steal once money.
Prior to introduction of the computers, phishing and identity theft cases were minimal since the
way of accessing ones information required one to find them physically. After the introduction of
the computers, they started by using mail sperms so as to trigger programs installed to be able to

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capture different kind of information from ones pc such as key strokes of the computer whenever
typing a password or opening the web cam so as to take photo that could have been used to
create pass cards. Such were the case that were hard before. But due to advance of technology of
and availability of cloud computing, people store their information on those clouds which have
proved that some are highly vulnerable. Those kind of data are more important to acquire more
to intrude many premises including government buildings.
As such, using names is not a better way to keep one safe from different kind of identity
thieves as to access them is easy by searching them on the Google search engine and using some
of the best software that can be used to listening of the nodes and able to filter to the targeted
person. Some of the sites that are vulnerable includes whats App, Facebook and also Twitter
which have a lot of cases pertaining to impersonation.
There is increased online transaction. As such, it is easy to acquire once report and use it
for self-gain. These kind of transaction may offer a rope hole for thieves to access once
information and countering transactions. This is one of the most fraud happening as people are
losing a lot of money. Pharming technique helps the thieves acquire ones information by
prompting users to click certain file and a background installation of a software that will be used
to snoop and able to acquire information needed for infiltrating to another personal files. Some
sites are cloned to seem like the real site and if prompted to log in, thieves get to acquire logging
credentials of the real site.
Increased cases of impersonation lead to people desire to create a more sophisticated
systems that will make it hard for the thieves to impersonate someone. Imagine if identity of the
Director of the CIA were to land on the hands of the wrong person? What damage could it have
on the nation? These kind of systems could be able to use biometric identification as well as

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voice identification so as to make it even hard for any impersonation. The use of retinal
identification is now possible thus limiting one from card use only. The use of two way
identification which includes input of the password while logging in and latter a OTP code sent
via phone number so as to verify the person accessing certain account makes it hard for
impersonation. With the banks and other monetary institutions it is important that whenever one
makes a transaction a confirmation code is sent to the user so as to confirm that transaction. The
common mode used to steal identity is through Phishing and pharming. So as they can be to
accesses such vital information, it has become even more sophisticated as emails used seem
accurate and resembles those of the institutions being mimicked. Some of the sensitive
information targeted are the numbers pertaining to social security, driver’s license, credit cards
and any other vital piece of information that may help the thieves be able to convince others into
believing they are who they are impersonating.
They are various disciplines mandated to monitor and track of the culprits who are
directly or indirectly involved in stealing ones identity so as to access so of the important
information either online or offline. Investigation reveals that, for any theft that has taken place
there is more than one person that is fully involved. It also stated that these kind of theft could
have been curbed if the department of the FCT, that of Justice (DOJ) a nd also the market place
could have worked together or taken their mandate seriously. Thus, there is always a person to be
blamed for any theft due to discipline negligence.
Thieves tends to rely much on the phishing technique over the internet (Oorschot &
Stubblebine, 2005). Identity is at rise due to the fact that internet has grown exponentially and
thus a loop hole has been created through which any person can be a victim of identity theft
mostly if one has provided any information on the internet.

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It was report that in 2002 an approximate of about 3.3 million American citizens became
victims of identity theft which resulted to the creation of new bank counts and accessing loans
using them. These kind of incidents prompted the government to create “Identity Theft Penalty
Enhancement Act” which alleviated penalties on the person found with cases involving Identity
Theft (Holtfreter & Holtfreter 2006).
In conclusion, Identity theft is a "low-tech" considering that for a thief to be able to get
information, they have to play mind tricks with the user so as to initiate the process. They had to
copy credit card information which may be stored in an online retail environment and maybe you
log in the environment in a cyber cafe but failed to log off and someone mysteriously found it.
With email, they have to mimic some of the institution one works with or have an affiliation with
so as to get those information. Nevertheless, it has receive a lot of media coverage recently so as
to create awareness and help people not to fall into the traps of the thieves. Currently emails are
sophisticated and with better encryption mechanism making hard for phishing activities unlike in
the past where emails were vulnerable containing lots of errors. (Jakobsson & Myers, 2006). The
use of biometric methods of identification may reduce Identity theft at greater level. Also, other
system that can eradicate the vice includes the retinal scan, voice recognition and the double
verification of the identity. Coordination of the task force together with the bureaus and the users
may prove to be a better mechanism of dealing with the problem (Rosenstein & Fine, 2016).
If there are better structures set by the institutions responsible, combating Identity theft
will be easy. Some of the E-commerce platforms are highly vulnerable and as such is the
information of the users. Lack of proper information on how to safeguard them is the root of all
these vices. Improved technology is the best way forward by ensuring that firewalls are
reinstated and they are functioning properly so as to keep of unauthorized users. Any case related

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to Cybercrime should be worked upon by the Federal enforcement, new structure and measures
put in place so as to make possible for the persecution of the culprits who will also be outside the
local enforcement (Swire, 2009).
References
1. Jakobsson, M., Myers, S. (2006). Phishing and Countermeasures: Understanding the
Increasing Problem of Electronic Identity Theft. Wiley Interscience. Google Books.
Retrieved from: http://books.google.com/books?
id=xxAbEcNlIwwC&printsec=frontcover&vq=electronic+identity+theft&ie=ISO-8859-
1&output=html
2. van Oorschot, P. C., & Stubblebine, S. G. (2005). On Identity Theft and a
Countermeasure based on Digital Uniqueness and Location Cross-Checking..
3. Holtfreter, R. E., & Holtfreter, K. (2006). Gauging the effectiveness of US identity theft
legislation. Journal of Financial Crime, 13(1), 56-64.
4. Swire, P. (2009). No Cop on the Beat: Under enforcement in E-Commerce and
Cybercrime. Journal on Telecommunications and High-tech Law, 107. Retrieved from:
http://www.jthtl.org/content/articles/V7I1/JTHTLv7i1_Swire.PDF

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5. Van Oorschot, P.C., Stubblebine, S. (2005). Countering Identity Theft through Digital
Uniqueness, Location Cross-Checking, and Funneling. Retrieved from:
http://fc05.ifca.ai/p03.pdf
6. Shin, L. (2014). ‘Someone had taken over my life’: An identity theft victim’s story.
7. Retrieved from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/laurashin/2014/11/18/someone-had-taken-
over-my-life-an-identity-theft-victims-story/#6481aaa79787
8.