Problems of identity theft incidents increasing

Students are at risk for identity theft due to the campus’ public trashcans, so proper care must be taken when disposing of important documents.

No longer restricted to credit card fraud, identity theft is becoming more common with social security fraud, allowing criminals access to bank accounts and private records.

"It’s a trend that is unfortunately on the incline," said Ken Newbold, assistant director of administration and finance for the Institute of Infrastructure and Information Assurance at JMU.

Credit card fraud is the most common type of identity theft, but social security fraud also is on the rise.

Newbold said it is easier to steal an identity with social security fraud because it is tied to so many things, whereas normally credit card fraud only consists of financial damage. "It’s easier to build an actual identity from social security number fraud," Newbold said.

Credit card fraud tends to be easiest because of the emergence of check and debit cards and the Internet. "Credit card companies are becoming more pro-active," Newbold said.

The Internet has made accessing information about persons increasingly easier, due to programs such as spyware and cookies. Software downloads from programs such as Kazaa and Limewire can include spyware, said Gary Flynn, JMU computing security engineer.

Newbold also said one of the reasons peer-to-peer sharing is prevented on many college campuses is for these kinds of security reasons.

Web sites also are places from whence an identity can be stolen. Flynn said there are two scenarios in which identities are stolen online: The first is if the Web site is hacked from an outside source to get the credit card number, and the second involves the Web site being operated by criminals.

Samuel Redwine, associate director for software development for the IIIA, said that when downloading software, a person should download from major vendors.

"Most banks sell identity protection services so people can suspect suspicious activity," Redwine said.
To keep computers up to date, programs such as Ad-Aware and Spy Bot should be used occasionally to get rid of unwanted spyware.

"[You should] safeguard documents that have private information on them," Flynn said. Private information includes credit card numbers and social security numbers, and Newbold said that Web sites have been adding more secure steps for authentication.

"[Identity theft is] mainly an issue of not being careful," Newbold said.