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Do-it-Yourself Identity Theft Repair: Recipe for Disaster

There is a knock on the door. It's 11 PM. You answer the door and its Inspector Jenkins and his partner Inspector Smith with the Secret Service. They inform you that they have been investigating fraudulent wire transfers made from one of your trading accounts over the last six months. Your spouse and children come to the door to see what is happening. Just as they do, Inspector Jenkins informs you that you are under arrest for making the fraudulent wire transfers, and he cuffs you. You try to explain, this must be a mistake.

Identity theft isn't about petty charges to an existing credit card. The scenario above, character fraud, occurs when someone else uses your good name to commit a crime. Medical identity theft occurs when others get medical services in your name, which can make an indelible mark on your medical records. There are millions of people that need your identity to work in the U.S., and those records get reported to the IRS,

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April 7, 2008 Posted by Joseph Campana, Ph.D., CIPP/G, CITRMS | identity theft training, identity theft education, identity theft | Comment (0)

Identity Theft Conjures Disturbing Images

We recently invited our circle of businesses contacts to provide a critique on our revamped website, www.JCampana.com. One characterized a few of the dynamic images displayed on our home page as "disturbing." These were images of the 9-11 terrorist attack.

"What does toppling towers and foreigners scaling border walls have to do with information security, privacy, and identity theft?"

Terrorists, illegal immigrants, and other criminals often hide behind assumed identities -- identities of real people like you and me. The 19 terrorists who flew the planes on 9-11 had 368 separate identities or about 20 apiece. Most of the estimated 20+ million illegal immigrants in this country are here to work. Most employers require a social security number (SSN) to abide with laws. How do illegals get a SSN? They buy

New Year's Privacy Compliance Resolutions

What is your business doing to become privacy friendly in the New Year? Here's a list of critical items to review with the person in your enterprise responsible for compliance:

FACT Act - Applies if you have employees or customers

State Breach Notification Laws - Applies in every state in which you have customers or employees.

PCI-DSS - Applies if you accept credit cards

GLB Act - If you are classified as financial services or a service provider

HIPAA - If your business qualifies as a covered entity or business associate

Other privacy and information security regulations applicable to your business

Risk assessment completed for applicable regulations

Policies and procedures completed for applicable regulations

Employee education and training documented for applicable regulations

Regularly scheduled employee training and audits for applicable regulations

January 20, 2008 Posted by Joseph Campana, Ph.D., CIPP/G, CITRMS | privacy training, privacy education, privacy, information security training, information security education, information security, identity theft training, identity theft education, identity theft, FACTA, FACT Act | Comment (0)

The Most Frequented Victim of Identity Theft

Identity theft is when a person misuses the personal identifiers of another person for their own advantage. In extreme situations an imposter may actually attempt to impersonate the character of a victim.

A widely publicized case of character impersonation and identity theft is "The Michelle Brown Story," which was made into a Lifetime TV movie. In the drama, the imposter committed a variety of identity theft crimes using Brown's identifiers. They included financial, character, government ID, and medical identity theft. The imposter also attempted to impersonate the look and character of Brown through liposuction and by purchasing a similar vehicle as Brown's - both by using Brown's identity. This movie brought identity theft to the attention of many in a melodramatic way.

Character identity theft of this sort can be very serious, especially when the imposter impugns the character of the victim.

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December 23, 2007 Posted by Joseph Campana, Ph.D., CIPP/G, CITRMS | identity theft training, identity theft education, identity theft | Comment (0)

'Tis the Season . . . of Identity Theft!

The holiday season is huge for retail sales, and it's big for pickpockets and identity thieves too. The thieves are interested in your credit cards and personal identification, not the cash. ID's are more valuable. Identity thieves will steal your wallets mail, and trash; and scam you by telephone, mail, and the internet. They want your good name.

Some Holiday Tips and New Year's Resolutions for you to put into practice to manage your identity are:

Protect your wallet or purse at all times. Men, carry your wallet in your front pocket when shopping. Ladies, put the strap of your purse over your head. Don't EVER leave your purse unattended and unattached to you, for example, in a shopping cart, on a counter, or on the front seat of your car even when you are close by, for example, pumping gas!
Purge your wallet or purse of ALL identification cards showing your social security

Are You Privacy Compliant? Hire a Lawyer?

In a business forum I recently asked the question, "does your business have a privacy officer?" A young attorney quipped, "hire an attorney, they'll tell you if you need one?" According to best privacy practices; a National Academy of Sciences report, numerous other compliance bibles; and a multitude of federal and many state laws, all enterprises should have a privacy advocate, typically called a chief privacy officer (CPO) no matter whether your business comprises one or tens of thousands of associates.

In a related incident, a CEO of an international privacy credentialing institute shared a newspaper article with me out of frustration. It was written by an attorney that stated that ALL businesses were required to comply with the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) - two of many privacy laws. That's simply inaccurate.

Two weeks ago, a client described what he was

Scaring People into taking Action

I recently received an invitation to address a group of professionals about identity theft. While chatting with the organizer to learn how I could best customize my presentation to the audience, the organizer nonchalantly said, "don't scare them."

Since that conversation, I have been pondering on how one could talk about the world-wide identity theft pandemic without scaring anyone in the audience. A "How-To" workshop entitled "Identity Theft for Fun and Profit" targeted to an audience of scoundrels could leave the audience walking out confident and enthusiastic about the future opportunity of becoming an identity thief. But even one or two of the rogues, who lacked the nefarious skills of the others, might get scared that they might be made or not be able to swindle as much as the more skilled villains.

It occurred to me that talking about identity theft and countermeasures is like talking about global warming o

THE AMC MADMEN PROGRAM: corporate suite fragging

Just imagine working for the imaginary Cooper Sterling Advertising Agency? A Creative Director is hiding a past life that started when he assumed the identity of a commanding officer who was killed next to him in a Korean War battlefield incident. A sex obsessed senior partner has suffered a heart attack while indulging in a tryst on company premises. Publication of an article/book by one of the copywriters is greeted by ridicule and personal put downs by fellow employees. An arrogant junior employee who undermines his boss is retained on staff because of the importance of his family's connections.

Gossip and scandal seem to run the Cooper Sterling Company. The quality of product and financial health of this company seem to be of secondary importance. Is it any wonder that an employee who feels passed over has started to search for ways to bring down his boss (and perhaps the company?)

During the Vietnam war 120 officers were

Identity Theft Education â€“ Whatâ€™s Your Objective?

Education on identity theft and privacy is not discretionary; it is required as part of a defensible best practices program and mandated by federal and state laws.

If your organization were launching an employee wellness program, which speaker(s) would you select from the following two sets: (1) an oncologist (cancer surgeon) or a nutritionist; (2) a fitness trainer or cardiologist (heart surgeon)? Cancer may result from poor nutrition and heart disease from lack of physical activity. The nutritionist and fitness trainer focus on prevention and wellness. The surgeons address the illness resulting from neglect of wellness. Surgeons may tell riveting stories about the victims of cancers, their tumors, their surgeries, and their recovery or demise. Participants may find such presentations entertaining, eye opening, and even scary. But what did they learn? How many employees will get scared into healthy nutrition and exercise? The