Identity Theft

Identify theft is a cybercrime in which cybercriminal obtains piece of personally identifiable information (PII) to masquerade someone else to launch further cyberattacks. And it occurs when cybercriminals steal a victim’s personal information to conduct a variety of fraudulent activities in the name of the victim. The cybercriminals launch the identity theft through using sophisticated cyberattack techniques including phishing, dumpster diving, malware and social engineering attacks. Furthermore, cybercriminals steal information from a victim with an ultimate goal of assuming a victim’s identity to commit fraudulent acts.

Identity theft happens when cybercriminal uses your personally identifiable information (PII) and pretends to be the victim to perpetrate fraudulent act or gain an unauthorized access for financial gain and data infiltration. The PII may include a victim’s name, home address, email address, driver’s license number, passport number, social security number (SSN),  and passwords. Once the cybercriminals gain access to the PII, they may try to use it for committing identity theft, selling it in the dark web and perform other nefarious activities with it.

Identity theft may happen through one or more of the following cyberattacks:

• Social engineering
• Phishing
• Skimming
• Dumpster diving
• Hacking Wi-Fi access points
• Malware
• Smishing or phone scams
• Data breaches
• Mail theft

Individuals and organizations alike can protect themselves against identity theft attacks through one or more of the following techniques:

• Creating and enforcing strong credentials
• Enabling two-factor or multi-facto authentication
• Never sharing private and sensitive information
• properly Sanitize disks and other devices before reusing
• Shredding documents and printouts before throwing them away
• Avoid using malicious sites
• Checking the “https” before entering data to web application
• Never click on links, open attachments or respond to emails from untrusted parties