If you wish to truly know a man, follow the movements of his mouse. It sounds like an ancient proverb from some rodent-infested culture. But it’s the unspoken mantra of a group of computer security researchers who have refined an innovative method of combatting identity theft. In a newly published paper, a research team led by Clint Feher of Israel’s Ben-Gurion University introduces a novel way of verifying a computer is being operated by its rightful user. Its method, described in the journal Information Sciences, “continuously verifies users according to characteristics of their ... Read More
An ePassport is a Fiendishly Slippery Thing
March 24, 2010 • By • 1 Comment
When America and the EU introduced "ePassports" in the mid-2000s, the documents had no security, not even basic encryption, which meant that the holder's details were being offered up to the world at large. The passports had RFID chips to let machines read basic information, including photos and fingerprints, and for the first time in history, a traveler — at least in theory — could have his identity details "skimmed" by any hacker wielding a fairly cheap RFID receiver. Use of RFID, or radio-frequency identification, has exploded over the last few years. The chips turn up in ... Read More
The Low-Tech Reality of Identity Theft
November 13, 2009 • By • Leave a Comment
The U.S. Census Bureau estimates a little more than one-third of households will refuse to mail out their census forms next year because of fear that sharing personal data could make them susceptible to identity theft. This is no idle concern — almost 10 million people were victims of identity theft in 2008, a 22 percent rise from the year before. And despite the popular image of some Serbian teenager with superior computing skills hacking into a major mainframe and stealing thousands of pieces of sensitive personal data, then using them to buy flat panel TVs and Blackberries, the ... Read More
Leaving Your Identity at the Bar
June 9, 2008 • By • Leave a Comment
We live in an era where private information such as one's age, home address, e-mail address, phone number and other data are increasingly being verified, collected, analyzed, used and sold. Most of the processes involved with these practices happen behind the scenes and out of sight; the only time we see the results of this information invasion is when we receive junk mail or spam, or when we specifically seek it out through credit reports and background checks. Most Americans would probably agree that it's acceptable to release some of this information to the federal government (in order ... Read More
