Your identity being stolen is not something you can take lightly.
or should take lightly.
Read this article to know more about them and actively take actions against these attacks and get ahead!
The problem of identity theft has risen dramatically in a digital-first world, where personal information is stored on hundreds, if not thousands of servers vulnerable to malicious attacks.
We all have adapted to a lifestyle in which we proceed to do the majority of our work online. But little do we know that it has provided cybercriminals with opportunities to access our personal information quite easily.
There are numerous ways to prevent identity theft and steps to take after becoming a victim, but understanding how identity theft works and how it affects your reputation is essential.
The deliberate usage of another person’s personal information (e.g., name, social security number, credit card number, passport) without their knowledge, to gain access to their finances or to frame them for crime is known as identity theft.
Social engineering, phishing, and malicious software are some of the tools and techniques used to gather the information that is needed to commit identity theft. Traditional methods such as stealing mail, digging through dumpsters, and eavesdropping on phone conversations in public locations are also still used.
Identity theft affects millions of individuals each year. Crimes resulting from the theft of people’s identity information have expanded to include darknet data trafficking, home title fraud, medical health insurance fraud.
It also can include criminals playing the victim by providing false identification to police, and leaving outstanding warrants against the individual whose identity has been stolen.
Because of the rapid transition to virtual banking, an unacceptable number of people will almost certainly encounter virtual identification fraud or some form of identity theft in the near future.
Identity theft also has the potential to cause damage at a national level by hijacking national security systems and exposing classified data through using stolen identity information.
Cybercriminals use social engineering techniques on victims to obtain their personal information by exploiting basic human instincts such as trust, greed, and curiosity. Refer to the link to our social engineering article on Telepathz for further information.
A well-written and attractive phishing email is all that is needed to convince a victim to click on a link that will provide the criminal access to the victim’s personal information.
These criminals use advanced tactics to commit fraud. Mentioned below are a few ways of how criminals could obtain your personal information
A recent IBM study report reveals a data breach that resulted in identity theft, costing the violated organization $3.86 million. Identity theft may lead to the loss of all your finances, assets, and eventually your well-being.
After years of analysis, the Insurance Information Institute in the United States has come up with a list of facts for us to be aware of.
Follow up on these cyber security practices listed below by yourself, your employees, and your organization to protect and mitigate the risk of identity theft.
Especially limit the amount of personal information you share on social media. Even if they have end-to-end encryption, many services backup messages to their servers, which if hacked, will compromise your security.
Cybercriminals use sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to learn specifics about you and your employer and then use that information to trick you into trusting them.
Telepathz can help you reduce your risk of identity theft! We provide secure end-to-end encryption through your browser while not storing your data at all, allowing you to share sensitive information such as credit card information, bank statements, and confidential documents in a secure manner with those whom you trust.