Peoples thoughts on ID theft

[idtheftuk]

hey all I'm a newbie here,

In the process of setting up a business; well when I say in the process I mean at the very beginning lol.

I just wondered if I could get some thoughts from you people.

just two questions I wish to ask at this time. And for replying karma will repay you

okay,

1 Do you think the banks in the UK are doing enough to help educate and protect people from ID theft?

2 If your bank was to offer you either a real life or online based seminar about the tactics ID thief's are using and how to protect yourself against them, free of charge would that interest you?

[Keiron Edginton]

Dont worry about ID theft! Worry about sorting your mobile phones out onto a business tariff. My number if you need any help with this is 0121 698 8569.

[Hillyer]

Don't worry about mobile phones! Worry about the OP's thread!

--

Welcome to UKBF idtheftuk. I think banks are taking steps to educate people about identity theft. I think they could be doing more ;-)

A free of charge online seminar on how to protect myself from ID thieves would interest me.

Looks like a good niche you have found .. Best of luck with it! ;-)

- Hillyer

[FireFleur]

ID theft doesn't really exist, you cannot steal someone's identity, it is fraud not ID theft. By calling it ID theft the onus has been moved onto the person and not the organisation that has been defrauded.

For a deeper discussion on this Security Engineering (http://library.poisedsolutions.com/cyber-security/hardening/security-engineering.xhtml) is a worthwhile read.

Sure, banks could offer a lot more on the security side, but every security step they add they do so at the cost of usability. Accounts not tied to identity are a lot more secure at the moment, that option should become more common.

[Sure]

Accounts not tied to identity are a lot more secure at the moment, that option should become more common.

can you get one of these on the high street, or is it just the caymans etc

[idtheftuk]

ID theft doesn't really exist, you cannot steal someone's identity, it is fraud not ID theft. By calling it ID theft the onus has been moved onto the person and not the organisation that has been defrauded.

For a deeper discussion on this Security Engineering (http://library.poisedsolutions.com/cyber-security/hardening/security-engineering.xhtml) is a worthwhile read.

Sure, banks could offer a lot more on the security side, but every security step they add they do so at the cost of usability. Accounts not tied to identity are a lot more secure at the moment, that option should become more common.

actually ID theft is the obtaining of a persons personal information to assume said persons identity for the purposes of committing acts of fraud, ie account takeovers.

ID Fraud, is where someone makes up personal data to create a fictitious person to use to commit other criminal offences.

2 very different things.

[FireFleur]

I didn't say ID Fraud, I said fraud.

Your identity is immutable, the term is being abused, because it shifts onus. The fact that someone claims to be someone else, is not the theft of identity it is the act of fraud, and it is based on others believing that which is false.

It is the committing of fraud via the misrepresentation of identity, not the stealing or theft of identity, you cannot steal identity. All you can steal is the means of access, a better term would be access theft. And by terming it correctly therein the problem and solution is revealed.

[FireFleur]

can you get one of these on the high street, or is it just the caymans etc

Not on the high street, though there are some private banks in the UK that will use other means of account control.

Suisse use to offer it, but under international pressure they have been forced to remove the anonymous nature of some of the accounts.

Tying a person to an account is really for taxation purposes, so in a way tax reduces the security of your wealth, well probably in more ways than just that :)

[FireFleur]

I should add that by also tying a person to an account it allows for unsecured credit to be more readily available.

Security really relies on the concept of trust, but it has to be balanced through the relationship. If the establishing of identity is the control of an account, then if that identity can be assumed readily it is a weak point of security.

Public key encryption, combined with other methods should be more readily available, but the complexity of that is quite high.

PGP (http://www.pgp.com/) and GPG (http://www.gnupg.org/) have been around for quite sometime, but how often do you see a signed email, or encrypt data on someone's public key, let alone sign a key for a web of trust.

The problem with security education, is that most will not follow it even though they will agree at the time. A targeted attack can get pretty much anyone irrespective of their knowledge, it is a hustle. Mitnick managed to hack one of the top Japanese security consultants, that did lead to his arrest, but the penetration happened.

Mitnick's book the Art of Deception (http://library.poisedsolutions.com/cyber-security/penetration/the-art-of-deception.xhtml) goes quite deep into social engineering, and Cyberpunk (http://library.poisedsolutions.com/cyber-security/penetration/cyberpunk.xhtml) is a light read for some of the history of Mitnick and others.

[dots and spots Jeff]

just two questions I wish to ask at this time. And for replying karma will repay you



Too true - I'm replying to this thread as you (idtheftuk) gave me some great help yesterday. Karma. ;)



1 Do you think the banks in the UK are doing enough to help educate and protect people from ID theft?

2 If your bank was to offer you either a real life or online based seminar about the tactics ID thief's are using and how to protect yourself against them, free of charge would that interest you?

1. No - but to be fair, do we really listen to banks? Other than my statements (which I file each month) pretty much everything the bank sends me goes straight in the paper recycling bin as I reckon its probably trying to sell me something I neither want nor need.

2. It would be of interest to me - not sure of the best way to deliver it though: perhaps online? Might be better if its endorsed by the banks rather than actually supplied by the banks. I'm presuming you're thinking of offering these seminars (and I think you may have got yourself a great niche) - to be honest I'd rather watch/read something by "Joe Bloggs, an industry expert in ID theft protection. Recommended by MegaBank Uk." than watching/reading something by "Megabank UK." (Hope that's clear - I sense it might not be!)

And one other OT thing - when I first saw your UKBF name my mind sort of blanked out the t from idtheftuk. Perhaps it says more about me, but you might want to make sure there is a space between theft and uk.

Jeff

[Hillyer]

Yes, it is a great niche - and I would definitely be more inclined to hear/read about something you were experienced in than something the bank think they know about. (As Jeff has pointed out).

- Hillyer

[idtheftuk]

Yes, it is a great niche - and I would definitely be more inclined to hear/read about something you were experienced in than something the bank think they know about. (As Jeff has pointed out).

- Hillyer

I am working with the princes trust at the moment to get funding to put on my first seminar, this will be recorded and put online hopefully from that I can moved forward into not just ID theft but other types of fraud and such like.