Recent statistics from the Office of National
Statistics and the Home Office show that fraud and forgery is on the
increase. This may partly be due by the fact that the internet can
provide opportunitist criminal opportunity to obtain goods by deception
or through outright computer fraud. The key weakness is often the
lack of security of the end user in maintaining the secrecy of
usernames, email addresses, PIN numbers, passwords and security or
registration numbers.
With one in four people claming to have been or know someone
who has been a victim, at least 100,000 reported cases costing the
UK economy 1.3 billion pounds.
Traditionally identity theft has focussed on securing
papar based personal details including driving licences, passports and
birth certificates - documents that enable people to impersonate the
unsuspecting and commit crimes including bank and credit card fraud,
telecommunications fraud, drug offences and money laundering.
The miniaturisation of electronic components now enables vast
quantities of data to be stored in handheld devices, and because
everybody is now burdened with more passwords and PIN numbers than
ever before, it is not surprising that people turn to mobile phones
and PDAs to help them remember these critical numbers.
Whilst the internet may have had a phenomenal impact on people's
lives, and internet retailers spend millions of pounds securing
their websites from fraudulent activity, this information society
lifestyle and security can become worthless if people fail to
secure their personal data including usernames, email addresses
and passwords, or inadvertently store tham for ease of access on
computers, mobile phones or PDAs.