[A close look] Experts say consumer education is crucial

Ten years ago, Sandra Bullock’s “The Net” hit
theaters and dramatized the life of a woman marred by identity
theft. She had lost everything, from credit cards to her
driver’s license. The movie may have seemed far-fetched to
most people who did not use the Internet as frequently as they do
today.

But times have changed. The Internet now plays an important part
in many peoples’ lives, and the threat of identity theft is
very real, especially for students at UCLA. From credit card
numbers for housing payments or Social Security numbers for online
applications, information is constantly being electronically
transferred across the UCLA campus.

According to the September 2003 Federal Trade Commission
Identity Theft Survey Report, the United States has experienced an
increase in cases of identity theft since 2001. At the time of the
report, 10 million Americans, approximately 4.7 percent of American
adults, discovered they had been victimized by identity theft in
some form between September 2002 and September 2003.

In February 2005, the FTC released a set of victim complaint
data based on state findings, compiling records from 2004.
California had the most victims in the nation, at 43,839. It also
had the third-highest ratio of victims per 100,000 in population in
the nation. The highest concentration of victims was in Los
Angeles, where 3,655 people were affected.

Many times, individuals will not discover that they are being
used by identity thieves for a considerable amount of time.

Sheila Gordon, director of Victim Services at the Identity Theft
Resource Center, said finding new jobs and applying for student or
car loans are examples of events where individuals often realize
their situation.

Gordon added that identity thieves have used stolen information
to obtain lines of credit, cars or even employment in the past.

“(Those who are affected) need to place fraud alerts on
their credit, and monitor their credit,” Gordon said.

Because of this threat to UCLA students, some claim that
education on the issue is necessary to help block identity
thieves.

“This should be priority No. 1 (for UCLA),” said
Robert Siciliano, author of the book “The Safety
Minute,” which outlines specific tactics people can use to
guard personal security. He said universities are not educating
students and faculty enough about the real threat of security
breaches and identity theft, especially now, since there are an
anticipated 10 to 20 million more victims in the next few years. He
noted that on Tuesday it was reported that data aggregator
LexisNexis had lost the personal information of 300,000
citizens.

Siciliano said Social Security numbers are commonly used as the
main form of identification for students in universities, yet many
universities do not consider this information as valuable. He said
this explains the lack of data protection in major institutions,
and therefore, the increased threat of security breaches by
identity thieves.

Siciliano also pointed out the growing threat of “web
mobs,” which he described as groups of international
organized criminals who strike large companies and individuals
alike, noting that these criminals are rarely caught by law
enforcement.

“(Identity theft) is the lowest-risk, highest-yield
crime,” Siciliano said, adding that the federal government
has only worked to increase penalties on criminals, not to address
the issue of data protection.

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