Students Beware
Students be aware, university data breaches have resulted in a new tact for identity thieves. Recently, I have received several emails to both my personal and school account reporting to be from my university. Similar to the fraud email from “your bank,” this email denotes a need for you to reaffirm who you are and ensure that the university has registered the correct student in order to remain on track for graduation. The good news is that the data breach must have only compromised my school information (school id number, email, GPA, etc.). The bad news, not every student is a former identity theft victim and will think twice before responding. Thus, it is ever more important for students to remain informed and remember that for every lock we put in place, another thief is looking to find a new way in.
Moreover, recently the FTC released its yearly report on the statistics concerning identity theft. Many things had increased. From the number of cases, to the cost; however, one statistic stood out so strongly above the rest for this victim. The number of cases that get reported to the FTC and not the local authorities was among the highest for the 2008 year. This means that victims of the crime are reporting the crime to their credit companies and the then to the FTC without reporting the crime to the police. Maybe if more people report the crime to the police, more effort will be put forth to go after and stop these criminals. From students to teachers to families, everyone needs to do everything they can to keep thieves away from our personal identifying information.
If more of us report the crime, we not only protect ourselves, but also increase the safety net for our communities. Simply because the crime has increased in number for the last five years doesn’t mean this year has to be the same. With the right tools and drive we can put a stop to identity theft. Either by doing it yourself or having a company lock up your identity, we all have the ability to stay safe and start putting the pressure on thieves. It all starts by empowering and protecting yourself, then your family, then your community. Working together we can all put an end to the phishing emails as well as affect the outcome of the FTC 2009 statistics on identity theft.
