I find it interesting that the number one internet crime is called “identity theft” when it’s really just plain theft. They’re really after your money.
It wouldn’t be hard to stop identity theft. All we have to do is outlaw the credit card industry, electronic bank transfers and shutdown the internet. Unfortunately the banks are not prepared to return to the pre-credit-card era. That’s OK, neither am I.
Banks now offer “protection” from such schemes but you should understand that YOU are paying for it with higher interest rates and creative bank fees.
VISA, Master Card, et al have issued a self regulatory policy called PCI. This specifies certain requirements that everyone handling credit cards must implement. More an attempt to stave off government regulation than concern for their customers welfare it, never the less, offers you some protection, again at a price that YOU must pay. PCI offers protection from events beyond your control. The things that happen to your information after you hand over your credit card information. It helps protect you from hackers trying to break into banks and retailers to steal your information.
How prevalent is this? I don’t know. I suspect the published numbers are very under estimated. Why? I’m nothing – nobody to these crooks yet my server gets humdreds of attacks daily. I don’t even have credit card or customer information on my server. Imagine if I was a bank or retail store. There would be thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of attacks daily. Then multiply that by all the banks, retail stores, e-commerce websites … anyone and everyone transfering money electronically.
True, most attacks do not succeed. IT professionals constantly watch their attempts and adjust their policies and procedures accordingly. Still every failure is one more step closer to success.
AND YOU ARE PAYING FOR IT!
Next week we’ll look at your home network.