Welcome to Campus! Give me Your Identity!

It's college time kids!

Now we need to prep ypu for all the perps out there who will find you easy pickin' for stealing your credit card or more. The statistics on growing ID theft cases at colleges are frightening and we need to more quickly to change your behavior and teach you to be "Identity Theft Aware."

We have been working on an ID theft "condom" to make sure you practice "safe computing."

After all, the college health serives (in spite of Rush Limbaugh) may be handing out actual condoms so you have "safe sex" so we want to make sure that you also protect your identity information from "viruses" just like you do against STD's.

Unfortunately we have had a hard time making the ID condom big enough to cover your laptop so instead we are developing a short, one hour, on-line "Safe Identity behavior" workshop for you kids.

We want to encourage every college and university in the USA to include a short 10 minute presentation on Safe Identity Behavior right after the talk about safe sex during incoming or freshman orientation. Then they should send you to the web site so you can take the short seminar.

Also, don't get trashed and let someone steal your wallet, purse, bag or backpack and all that personal info you keep in there. A drunk is the best target for old fashioned "analog"ID theft!

Have fun ! Be safe!

As soon as it comes out I'll be posting a link to an article on this that will be published in a college-oriented publication soon.

Seasons Greetings

At the start of the holiday season this year my friend Moses Whiffington of Boston, Mass went to fill his car with gas and his credit card was refused. His wife Wilhelmina was turned down at Walgreens Pharmacy an hour later and could not buy Robitussin for little Benjamin – “Sorry, mam, your credit card has been frozen”. The credit card company said they were over their limit in the last hour because of the $6 K charges they had made in Boston at Bonwitt Teller. Moses was at home filling his snowplow with gas when those charges were made. The Whiffingtons had not mail ordered six gold Christmas gift bracelets to be sent by currier to an address only 2 blocks from the store.

The next day they got the notification from the famous MM Kean Outdoor Wear Catalog Company in Pawamatuxet, Maine that, as per application, a business account had been activated and the first shipment of Wully Pully cashmere sweaters in the amount of $12,000 had been shipped, as per instructions, to Whiffington Outlet Bazaar in Amarillo, Texas. And, MM Kean proudly announced “We are pleased to tell you that you’ve been authorized for the Platinum Credit Line of up to $60k. Congratulations and Happy Holidays!”

Moses and Willy are typical of millions of Americans whose credit information is stolen by cyber crooks. Then the long, frustrating, and angry process of trying to recover credit ratings and their good name begins. What a way to spend Christmas!

Moses was innocent and had mostly ignored news stories and reports about ID Theft. His company, Vizagnez Pharmaceutical Packaging had never run an employee training program on Identity Security and Moses who is VP of Marketing had never had alarm bells go off when customers complained that after doing business with Viz (as the company is known) they suddenly had unauthorized charges in the tens of thousands on their company accounts. Little did Moses know that the marketing web site had been hacked, spyware installed, and vital, confidential information leaked out on customers accounts.

Moses called me on my cell and I authorized a download of our book on ID Theft as my Christmas present to him and his family. He followed the check-list of ten steps and is now spending New Years applying for new and more secure credit cards. He also has ordered a complete security review of all customer data. My associate and I are flying out to Boston to do a one-day training seminar for all employees at Viz Packaging. This seminar will be archived and available for all new Viz employees who are required to take it and pass the certification testing of our ID Secure CompanyÔ training program.

Meanwhile, preoccupied with cutting the size of the federal government and “getting government off your back”, the Congress and the Executive Branch have still not stepped up fully and robustly to enact much tougher and proactive identity theft legislation.

Last week Moses got a package from DHL Delivery Services that his corporate account for package delivery and small business credit had been approved. He expects to get approved for many more unsolicited business accounts and the charges that come with those as the thieves continue their spending spree.
Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and we hope that your New Year 2008 is free of these hassles.

Information Protection and Behavior Modification

In 2006-2007 the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Iowa State University Center for Information protection (CIP) funded a study on information and identity theft protection of which I am the PI (Principal Investigator). The NSF-CIP project is directed at identifying factors that lead to data and critical information loss and then designing targeted and appropriate educational/training programs that change people’s behavior and lead to more “Security Consciousness” – (SEC-CON).

As a result of this research we are now developing best practices for information and ID protection. Our colleagues in computer science, computer engineering, mathematics, and management information systems (MIS) are working on parallel discoveries that will make information more secure and personal identities less vulnerable. Their work and ours will be incorporated into corporate, government, non-profit organizations and into individual practices.

I am delighted to report some preliminary findings which can help secure information.

Individuals need to have personal security of personal data high on their “awareness” list. In fact research shows that ID security needs to become a “second sense”. It should never be something we do once a month or quarterly.

There is now significant evidence that there is an “Unwarranted Trust” - UT -factor which basically “disarms” people’s behavior when it comes to securing and protecting sensitive data. Understanding UT as a sociological and psychological behavioral phenomenon, we feel, is THE single most critically important factor in successful “Security Behavior Modification” – SBM.

The second phase of the NSF-CIP project is designed to modify and improve and develop a continuous improvement paradigm for training systems for employees who have access to critical information. As one of our sponsors who is with a large multinational company pointed out at a recent briefing SBM is invaluable not only for the protection of traditional data of concern such as Social Security and Credit Card numbers and birth dates but also as a means of sensitizing employees to the risk of revealing or losing proprietary information, business plans, patents, and other information that should be secured and protected.

For more information on the National Science Foundation/Center for Information Protection project please contact us at ---
Michael McCoy - 559 Ross Hall Ames, IA. 50011-1204 or email: mrmccoy@iastate.edu

Steffen Schmidt