Today
we shared on a small scale what it feels like to be robbed
electronically. As I explained earlier, with technological
advancements, we must also learn how to safeguard our accounts and
identities.
Before
technology gave us the ability to travel and communicate
instantaneously, identity theft could only occur if an imposter
happened along claiming to be a certain individual, and the members of the next village believed him. Before the days
of photographs, with just word-of-mouth as verification, the
imposter could only be found out if local individuals could locate or
present the “real Mr. Jones,” as it were.
In
the days before the ease of present-day communication and travel,
this could prove to be a lengthy and cumbersome task. And, you might
think that, with our current information glut online, our task of
locating and proving identity thieves would be faster and easier.
Of
course, we've discovered that it's also faster and easier for crooks
to access information they want to steal, so the incidence of identity
theft has continued to rise.
Hackers
nowadays not only steal credit card information and social security
numbers. They're after e-mail accounts, internet domains, and online
access to virtually anything you can name. So, the sobering part of
this lesson is: think of the craziest thing someone would ever want
to steal, and you can rest assured someone has already tried it. And
someone else has already succeeded!
So
it's tantamount, as we saw today, to protect the accounts that
are tied to your identity. There are numerous programs today designed
to do just that. More tomorrow about how to move on with appropriate
caution in today's technological atmosphere.
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