Identity Theft Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Identity Theft - Research Paper Example As it is, people whose identity are compromised and have been assumed by another can suffer tremendous loses. Once the important information of a certain person is exposed to unscrupulous persons, such information can be used against that person. If the financial information of a certain person is compromised and the identity theft gain access to the person’s bank accounts, credit cards and others, the theft may be able to easily steal the money of that person (Abagnale, 2007). Aside from taking money from their victims, some identity thieves may use the signature or the accounts of their victim to commit crimes either online or offline (Cullen, 2007). A good example of this is when an identity theft uses the signature of another person to perpetuate fraudulent transactions either online or offline. By use the identity of the victim, the identity thief may be able to get away with the crime and his or her victim gets into trouble with the authorities. II. How Identity Theft Ca n be Committed Over the years, techno savvy thieves have developed a number of ways to steal important information by breaking into the information security system of companies and individuals. ... tity thief’s operation depends on the kind of strategies and mechanisms that he or she employs to get the necessary information to usurp the identity of another. In recent years, social engineering have become one of the most potent tools used by identity thieves to gain access to buildings, databases and computer systems across the country (Hadnagy, 2010). In this era of social networking when millions of people meet online to make friends or transact business, social engineering becomes one of the easiest methods of defrauding unsuspecting internet users. How does an identity theft make use of social networks to defraud his or her victims? Social engineering employs human psychology so instead of using software and programs to attack the database or the security system of a certain company or individual, the identity theft target the people who have access to the database or the security system (Hadnagy, 2010). The common strategy here is to study the work patterns of the ta rget individual or group of individuals and find strategies to trick these people into divulging passwords and access codes to their system. Social networking sites are often used by these people to befriend their targets and learn whatever they can from these people through trickery and guile. In a sense, social engineering is like stalking a prey and punching when the prey is at its most vulnerable moment. As it is, this method of retrieving information from human sources is a long process so it may take days, weeks or even months before the identity thief actually gets the information that he or she needs. Given this situation most of those people who employ this strategy to gain access to database may need to invest a lot of time on their targets (Hadnagy, 2010; Wilhelm, 2010). Note that