Sunday 28 October 2012

Preventing Impersonation And Identity Theft Basics

By Gary N. Smith


The action of sending emails to an unknown individual disguising them to be legitimate is known as phishing. The action means obtaining accurate personal data from unsuspecting people and using the acquired details to harm the target, commonly financially. Protecting against phishing and identity theft therefore becomes critical.

Phishing effectiveness results from higher level of accuracy in collecting data from the target and using it to the thief's advantage. Hacking is complex in nature and needs a high level of technical competence. Therefore, the online thief has resorted to more effective and accurate ways of data collection. Contrary to hacking, phishing is much easier in meeting the desired objective.

Identity theft threats exists. It must have potential targets for it to survive. However, the targeted people should come up with security measures to protect themselves from the eminent threat they face. Guarding against spam should be implemented as a diligence procedure during the process of handling emails from unknown sources. The messages in the mails are highly persuasive and are meant to scare the target and make them fall prey to their traps.

Impersonation is dependent on information accuracy that originates from the target. Obtaining sensitive or highly detailed data from institutions are extremely hard; therefore, the easier way used in obtaining the information is through extracting it from the intended target. As a matter of precaution, information should be disclosed to people on the need to know basis. Meaning, trust and reliability of the person given the information are never doubtful.

Computer firewall is an advanced and reliable form of self-protection. The firewall built restricts anybody who does not have the authority or the required level of security clearance from accessing confidential information. In case of an attack, the system alerts the administrator and makes available, the aspect the thieves tried to manipulate. In addition, firewall regular inspection helps ensure security is at par always.

High level of monitoring bank balance account and other online account improves the level of safety. Early detection of irregularities in the bank balance and the online account facilities result to timely follow up on theft. The prompt and accurate, responsive action increases the chance of avoiding online theft. Impersonation design intends not to be noticed even under continued monitoring helps.

Hacking intends to go unnoticed; as a result, it is the obligation of every responsible individual to follow up on the financial matter as well as their online safety. Consequently, financial institutions and other online accounts should device means of clearly and accurately identifying rightful clients before implementing any instructions. The basic aim of stealing of identity is benefiting financially or otherwise. The custodians of these benefits should come up with restrictive measures that deter such thefts that cause the thief to either give up of change tact or start again. The system should continuously frustrate those efforts.

There are many ways of protecting against phishing and identity theft. The above illustrates the basic methods but there are more complex measures applied in ensuring security. Security is affected from the basics since it is a buildup process that requires correct combination of a collection of measures. Security threat is dynamic and causes a continuous trend of change that must be observed always to avoid the materialization of the pending risk.




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