Jeffrey's Last Blog

In today’s society, people are too trusting of what they reveal on online sites and other webpages. The amount of information that is put online by people is immense; users put their social security number, their credit card information, their address and much more personal information that should be kept private. This is why identity theft is a common crime now a days. Identity theft is the fraudulent acquisition and use of a person's private identifying information, usually for financial gain. Identity theft can happen very easily. You threw a receipt or bill in the trash and someone found it. You were shopping online, and the site was a fake site. There is also mail theft, which involves people targeting mail with important information, credit card theft, etc. Unfortunately, the people that get targeted for this crime are senior citizens, since they are not completely understanding of what happens online. They tend to be easy targets for hackers and scammers. My cousin had her identity stolen by a hacker who found her information and was able to take money as well as other information from my grandmother. My mother was emailed by a scammer claiming that there was an arrest warrant, because of a false debt that he claimed was never paid. The only way the police would not arrest her was if she paid the certain amount of money. Attacks like these are seen regularly and are very common on the internet and putting a lot of information online without protection leave you vulnerable for these attacks.

            People should be very observant of what pages they visit online and what type of information they provide on different sites. There are fake websites that hackers use to steal information, which is a tactic called pharming. Another tactic that hackers and scammers use is Phishing where people send you messages to get personal information. These messages come with legitimate sources and they look very professional. They often confuse users and make them reveal a lot of information. Another way hackers steal identities is called Ghosting, where the hacker steals the identity or societal role of a dead person. Hackers have many ways to steal identities, and the online community should be careful to prevent this from happening.

            Hackers have a lot of tactics to steal identities, but there are still ways to protect ourselves from their attacks. Pay attention to the types of sites that you go on, making sure they are safe and well represented. Make passphrases, not passwords. Changing them often, making sure that your information is relatively safe, and using different passwords for different sites can be beneficial in protecting your identity. Pay attention to your bank statements, making sure that everything adds ups and that no loss of money is happening. When getting rid of receipts, medical bills or other papers that hold personal and important information, a way to protect yourself is by blacking out the important information even before shredding them and throwing them away. There are many ways that hackers can try stealing the identity of a person, but at the same time there are various ways to stay cautious and protect yourself from their theft.