Brenda Garvey
Ms. Michele
Marits
English 112
Are You Thousands Of Dollars In Debt And Yet
Not Know It?
The
alert from the Government Executive stated “That the nation's cap ital [sic] is
tops when it comes to identity theft. Annually, 20 incidents occur for every
100,000 people in the
Well,
what is privacy? Jason Burton believes that privacy is important to both our
personal wellbeing and for the wellbeing of public life. (
State, local and federal government
agencies collect and process a huge volume of vital record information. Much of
this information is still disseminated only in print form but can be ordered
and paid for via Web sites. An example of this could be as simple as looking up
a neighbor’s address on the Virginia Beach Government website. Once there this
curious person can find out what they paid for their home, also what other homes
are going for that are similar to this home, and various data about this home. With
this information a prospective buyer can offer you a lower bid for your house
which would cause you to lose out on more money. Other ways our data escapes to
others without our permission is through the use of data base searches, some of
which are within our control, and others are currently out of our hands. An
example of this would be as simple as looking up a phone number that is
advertising to sell something such as a car. Once you have the phone number you
can find out where they live, who lives there or whose name is attached to the
phone number, by just doing a reverse phone number look up. Once that
information is received, all this person has to do is drive by to view the
vehicle and write down the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN). Then go on line
to find out if it has been in accidents or claims against it and if it has a
clear title. All of these tasks can happen without your permission or
knowledge.
John Starr, vice
president of Gartner’s Internet security practice had stated, “An incident in which an agency inadvertently exposes Social
Security numbers to unauthorized users is not the most serious data breach.” (Starr)
However, once a Social Security number is found and connected to a
corresponding legitimate name and or address, this could be just enough
information to get access to all kinds of vital information of both personal data
and private data. gathering
Michael Sutton, a security researcher,
stated he was astounded at what he found. Given his job at SPI Dynamics, he
expected to see sophisticated attacks that took advantage of flaws in people’s
browsers to sneak code onto their PCs and grab their information. Instead, he
found that all but one of the attacks relied on basic social engineering, the
kind security researchers have been warning against for years: Get people to a
bogus Web site (often by e-mailing them a link and asking them to click), then
ask them to enter passwords, credit card numbers and Social Security numbers. ()
Phishing is an example of this criminal
activity using social engineering
techniques. Phishers attempt to fraudulently
acquire sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords and credit card
details, by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic
communication. Phishing is typically carried out by email or instant
messaging, and often directs users to give details at a website,
although phone contact has been used as well. Once this phisher has your bank
account numbers, names, and address, the phisher can retrieve all of your money
and destroy your credit.
Humans are of a curious sort by
researching their genealogy on the Web, attempting to reinstate communications
with high school classmates, friends, or even college buddies. We are found
registering for free and fee-based access to online versions of newspapers and
periodicals, and conducting e-commerce transactions. Once this personal data is
also extracted from the Web, aggregated, it can then be used for marketing
purposes, and sold to third parties. Some of these sources maybe through the
solicitation and obtaining of personal data under false pretenses; which is
then sold to online services and the phantom junk mail distributors. Even our
cellular phones use radio frequencies, and anyone with a scanner can intercept
these signals. Even if they do not have a scanner, sometimes the signals bleed
over onto other customer’s phone conversations. Analog phones simply broadcast
a voice conversation over the airwaves, making them easy for anyone listening
to hear them. Digital phones, however, transmit a conversation in a binary
format -- anyone who wants to intercept your call will have to invest in
special equipment to convert the signal back to analog form.
The following tools are recommended
by City News to prevent lost or stolen personal and private information. If a
store asks for your name, address or phone number and can not give you a
reasonable answer why they need it, refuse to give it to them. Contest for
drawings and other attractions such as prizes and trips tempt us everyday, but
be very careful of releasing your vital stats when filling out that entry form,
The chances of winning are very slim so be sure you know where and who is
getting this information or it could end up on a telemarketers list or spam
e-mail list. When using your credit card to make purchases on line, ensure
there is a padlock or key icon on the screen where the requested data is to be
sent. Also keep your receipts and track your charges against your statement. If
you are a victim of identity theft or fraud contact your bank immediately and
then the police department. Keep a record of whom you spoke with along with any
possible case files. You may need this information if you go to court. (Gage)
The following best practices,
guidelines, standards and policies are in the context of this focus on
portable, digital / electronic information. City News provides the following
guidelines for ways to prevent accidental and/or unwanted exposure of
electronic legally protected private information:
Know the meaning of the term private data and what it means
to protect it. First of all do not store private data on a laptop or portable
device. Next know what encryption means and how it applies to protecting
electronic private data. Encryption is the conversion of data into a
form, called cipher text, which cannot be easily understood by unauthorized
people. Decryption is the process of converting encrypted data back into its
original form, so it can be understood. So if you use
a laptop to store private data on it encrypt your laptop and do not carry your
password with it. Talk to your local technical staff and ask for
recommendations.” (City News)
Consider storing private data on a
secure server, not on your desktop, laptop or thumb-drive and then backup your
data. Use a security cable to lock down your laptop or desktop computer
whenever possible.
Following some or all of these protocols
can help protect you from the legal problems, embarrassment, inconvenience and
other problems that result when preventable private data breaches occur.
Privacy and personal data is precious to each individual, we must protect it by
policing ourselves (destroying receipts, destroying data you do not want to get
out), fore if lost it cost thousands of dollars and years of frustration to
regain positive control.
Word Count 1,416
Works Cited
Joshua
Dean “Identity Theft.” Government Executive.
Jun. 2001. 11Jun. 2007. <http://www.allbusiness.com/government/3597721-1.html>
Sandy
Starr “Open up the debate” Privacy online “what’s the problem?” Norman
Lewis
“When personal data gets out
of the box...” FCW.COM
Debbie Gage “Why Phishing
Succeeds” Baseline Security
“Why
Do Stores Need All Your Private Information?” City News
“Managing Legally Protected Electronic Private
Information” The Office of Information Technology
