Modern Technology Has Brought the Resurgence of Identity Theft Essay

identicalness stealth is one horror that has spawned from technological advancements. Criminals c each(prenominal) for developed legion(predicate) strategies on how to steal confidential and ad hominem breeding. Dealing with individualism stealth whitethorn be a repugn since constabulary force enforcement personnel office may not be fully competent in handling the cases since they may lack the required skills to be able to deal with much(prenominal) a umbrage while private mass and even businesses have lost frequently beca utilize of this type of crime.The emergence of cases of indistinguishability larceny has been constantly on the rise however, the preponderance of the crime may as swell up be blamed on impudent-made technology itself. Modern technology has brought almost numerous conveniences for ordinary concourse and even for individuality thieves. From only slight than 10,000 overlayed cases of identity stealing in 1999, the figure steadily c limbed reaching or so 50,000 in 2003 and more than 80,000 in 2006 (Infocycle, 2007). In the United Kingdom, credit note actor has similarly been consistently increasing.In 2007, all over 7,000 credit separate and debit cards were either lost or stolen. CPP instrument panel Protection has indicated a 77 pct increase in credit card fraud comp bed to the figure on 2006 (Experian QAS, 2008). gibe to a correction by Gartner, identity thievery claimed 15 cardinal victims in 2006 alone. The US Justice Department has record 226 cases of identity theft in 2005 merely in the first half of 2006 alone, there were already 432 cases. The FBI also indicated that it is moulding on 1,587 cases relating to identity theft (ITRC, 2007).Preventing identity theft may not be as easy as it seems. Joel Reidenberg and Lawrence Lessig said c formerlyntrating on the architectures of control to prevent identity theft is the way to go. Solove, on the other hand, indicates that architectures of phot ograph should also be considered in addendum to architectures of control. According to Solove, shaping architectures should be the focal point in the protection of privacy and not on remedies and penalties. He noted that architectures often provide a vulnerable point that identity thieves dish out advantage of.It is this lack of security that identity thieves be able to use a persons personal reading. He suggests that a public identification remains be created as a result to the problem (Solove, 2003). It is exactly youthful technology that produces these architectures and they are greatly f virtuefulnessed since many people bath still beltway its security functions evidenced by the prevalence of identity theft on the meshwork. identity theft has gained much notoriety in the advent of buying and selling on the Internet.However, identity thieves can still use the old methods for obtaining personal nurture. Common methods are stealing wallets or mails, looking with res idential trashcans or business dumpsters, pose as whatsoeverone legally permitted to gravel personal information such as credit reports, or bribing their way to raise the information (Newman, et. al. 2005). A phishing scam is other method of getting personal information out of a person. The Anti-Phishing Workgroup indicated that there are only 4,564 phishing websites in July 2005 alone the matter increased to 23,670 as of July 2006.A study at the University of Indiana also indicated that 14 share of phishing scams are successful which contradicts the Gartner report which indicates only a three percent success rate. The Gartner research also open up out that financial losses from phishing scams were $137 million in 2004 rising to $2. 8 trillion in 2006 (ITRC, 2007). The fight against identity theft may be considered rather uneffective since law enforcement personnel lack the requirement resources to combat such a crime which is computer- cerebrate.Britz indicates that this kind of crime requires law enforcers to have goledge of computers and other digital stuff. It may be noted that many law enforcement agencies do not have well-trained personnel to handle such cases. These personnel may also be acting some(prenominal) capacities at a given(p) time. information processing system technology has increased at an exponential rate as did technology related crime and this would require that law enforcers be trained to effectively handle such crimes (Britz, 2004). As technology improves, security is macrocosm compromised and this can be proven by the increasing number of identity theft crimes.While it is true that online trusting and other run on the Internet provide much convenience, it also provides lesser risks of capture for identity thieves. Law enforcers could do little do prevent identity theft or to investigate such since not all of them have the capacity to do so and identity thieves are alter their armoury of identity stealing techniques . Technology efficacy also be considered as the chill out of the prevalence of identity theft. Even as identity theft was not considered a crime before 1998, it has existed for a abundant time.Modern computing and telecommunications technology has once again popularized identity theft since identity thieves can better elude law enforcers compared to going to a bank and making a transaction using stolen information (Arnold, 2000). legislating has always tried to conduct cyber crime, but it is challenging for lawmakers to keep up since technology quickly evolves and cyber crime evolves with it. A good approach shot would be improving security measures, educating users, adopting a vigilant approach in combating cyber crime and a police force that is well-equipped to handle such crimes (Alaganandam, et. al. , 2005).indistinguishability theft and other cyber crimes are also classified as white-collar crimes, thus, offenders do not receive harsh penalties. They can even use the money ravaged to pay for their defense and they serve at least only one year in prison (Arnold, 2000). Identity thieves moldiness be dealt with harsher penalties since they operate on a much larger scale now and are even comparable to bank robbers only less inclined to existence caught and given much less media attention.The number of cases of identity theft is increasing at an exponential rate but this could most alike(p)ly be blamed on modern technology especially since the Internet has become commercialized. New technology comes with new opportunities for identity thieves to gain access to personal information and using it for personal gains. Legislation can address this problem but it would prove to be a challenge since identity thieves are finding new ways of how to steal personal information as technology develops.Legislation must(prenominal) also address this by variant harsher penalties for cyber criminals as they operate just like ordinary criminals, the only difference i s that they work discreetly and have not been given media attention. Also, the victims do not really know that they have been victimized until after some time the thieving takes places. References Alaganandam, H. , Mittal, P. , Singh, A. , & Fleizach, C. , 6 celestial latitude 2005. Cybercriminal Activity. Retrieved September 7, 2008, from sysnet. ucsd. edu/cfleizac/WhiteTeam-CyberCrime. pdf Arnold, T. 2000 June.Internet Identity theft A Tragedy for Victims. Software and reading Industry Association. Retrieved September 7, 2008, from www. siia. net/ package/pubs/iit-00. pdf Britz, M. (2004). Computer Forensics and Cyber Crime An Introduction. Upper turn on River, NJ Pearson Prentice Hall. Experian QAS. 22 stately 2008. Holiday Fraud Threat. Retrieved September 3, 2008, from http//www. qas. co. uk/ accompany/data-quality-news/holiday_fraud_threat_2614. htm Identity thievery Resource Center. 30 April 2007. Facts and Statistics. Retrieved September 3, 2008, from http//www. idtheftc enter.org/artman2/publish/m_facts/Facts_and_Statistics. shtml Infocycle. (2007). Government Bodies must(prenominal) Play Their Part in Securing Against Identity Theft. Retrieved September 3, 2008, from http//www. infocycle. co. uk/index. php? option=com_content&task= imbibe&id=43&Itemid=43 Newman, G. & McNally, M. 2005 July. Identity Theft Literature Review. Retrieved September 3, 2008, from http//www. ncjrs. gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/210459. pdf. Solove, D. (2003). Privacy, and the Architecture of Vulnerability. battle of Hastings Law Journal, 54. p. 1227. Retrieved September 3, 2008, from http//ssrn. com/abstract=416740