Fears about identity theft and financial fraud are top global concerns for consumers, according to the latest results of the Unisys Security Index. Identity theft is the primary security concern cited among respondents in nine out of 14 countries, while misuse of credit or debit card information ranks as the first or second greatest fear in 12 out of the 14 countries. Interestingly, the survey found an apparent lack of concern about using the Internet to shop, bank and email. According to Unisys, the data indicates that concern about Internet security has taken a back seat to other areas studied, such as issues related to financial well-being and the protection against bank card fraud.   » Continue Reading

The Identity Theft Resource Center has today released its 5th Annual Identity Theft Aftermath Study discussing the impact of identity theft on victims. According to the center, the Aftermath is the only study of its kind. It reflects only the experiences of confirmed identity theft victims who have worked with the ITRC, and is not a census or general population-based study. The questions asked ranged from the emotional impact this crime has had on their lives all the way through to their ability to recover their good name. It includes the financial loss to the business community in goods and services.   » Continue Reading

ING DIRECT has announced that it has partnered with Trusteer to become the first US bank to offer Trusteer’s Rapport consumer Identity Theft protection software free to all of its customers.   » Continue Reading

The latest U.S. results of the Unisys Security Index find that Americans are more concerned than they were seven months ago about national security issues and health epidemics and are increasingly concerned about financial security issues and worries about identity theft.   » Continue Reading

Anita Boomstein, an attorney with Hughes Hubbard & Reed, has published a paper titled 'Identity Theft Prevention Programs: Will Your Company Need to Have One?' . Her paper reminds companies of their obligations under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) to take steps to 'prevent, detect and mitigate the occurences of identity theft.' Compliance becomes mandatory on November 1, 2008.

Debix has announced the national launch of the expanded Debix Identity Protection Network. Debix says its network is 'the first and only identity protection solution that is with you during an attack and proactively stops identity theft at the moment it is attempted.'   » Continue Reading

Data breaches disclosed by Hannaford Bros Supermarket Chain, GE Money, and Georgetown University are just some of the 167 breaches reported during the first quarter of 2008, according to the non-profit Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC). This is more than double the first quarter in 2007 (76 breaches).   » Continue Reading

Experian( has announced it has filed a lawsuit against LifeLock, Inc. "for allegedly placing fraud alerts illegally on credit files maintained by Experian."   » Continue Reading

Javelin Strategy and Research has published its 2008 Identity Fraud Survey Report finding that identity fraud is declining in most parts of the United States with a losses down about 12 percent over 2006. Javelin's James Van Dyke notes, however, that "there's a catch. In a back-to-the-future scenario, there was a sharp increase in "old-fashioned" mail and telephone fraud, including Vishing. These methods grew from 3% to 40%, pointing to thieves’ new creativity in gathering personal information by mail and telephone."   » Continue Reading

The Identity Theft Resource Center has released a new report today discussing the impact of identity theft victimization. "This report was not based on a census survey but rather one that invited confirmed victims of identity theft in 2006 to respond to a series of 44 questions. These ranged from the emotional impact this crime has had on their lives and their ability to recover their good name to the financial loss to the business community in goods and services."   » Continue Reading

Javelin Strategy & Research has announced its 2007 Banking Identity Safety Scorecard, "an annual ranking and study of the top 25 U.S. banks in areas of identity fraud prevention, detection and resolution. This year, financial institutions showed strength in resolution practices, but vulnerability in prevention and detection."   » Continue Reading

In an article titled 'Getting to Know Identity Thieves', Washington Post personal finance columnist Michelle Singletary writes about the recent review of actual identity theft cases conducted by the Center for Identity Management and Information Protection. "What I learned from this report was this: You can't trust any business or anybody, even family members."

In an article titled 'The Borrower Who Never Was', Christopher Conkey writes for the Wall St. Journal about synthetic identity fraud - where made up identities are used to perpetrate financial fraud. "This kind of fraud doesn't usually directly affect consumers. The big losers are banks, which get stuck with loan defaults and unpaid credit-card bills that identity thieves leave behind."

Utica College’s Center for Identity Management and Information Protection has published the results of what it is calling "a landmark study of closed U.S. Secret Service cases involving identify theft."   » Continue Reading

Experian has announced that it will offer "the option to freeze credit reports to consumers nationwide. Beginning Nov. 1, Experian will allow any consumer across all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. Territories to place a freeze on their credit report. A credit file freeze prevents new creditors from accessing the credit file without the consumer's consent."   » Continue Reading

TransUnion has announced that effective October 15, 2007, it will offer what it its calling "the credit reporting industry's first complete file freeze solution" - providing U.S. consumers in all 50 states and the District of Columbia with the ability to freeze their credit files, should they feel that step is warranted.   » Continue Reading

Consumer Reports National Research Center has announced results of a national poll finding that "an overwhelming majority of Americans want lawmakers to restrict the use and availability of Social Security numbers by businesses and government agencies. According to the poll, 89 percent of Americans agree that state and federal lawmakers should pass laws restricting the use of Social Security numbers."   » Continue Reading

Javelin Strategy and Research has announced its "2007 Card Issuers’ Identity Safety Scorecard" - including describing "the security features of a dream credit card that put consumers in the driver’s seat when it comes to protecting them from identity fraud and knowing exactly what’s happening with their accounts. Javelin also announced the top credit card issuers that provide the best features that prevent, detect and resolve identity fraud."   » Continue Reading

ID Analytics has announced the "results of new analytical research on U.S. identity fraud by geography. The research, which is based on actual and attempted frauds rather than on consumer victim reports, examined data from January through December 2006 to determine where identity fraud is most rapidly increasing."   » Continue Reading

The Government Accountability Office has published a new report titled "Personal Information: Data Breaches Are Frequent, but Evidence of Resulting Identity Theft Is Limited; However, the Full Extent Is Unknown" (PDF).   » Continue Reading

In an article titled 'Credit Bureaus Fight Consumer-Ordered Freezes", Byron Acohido and Jon Swartz write for USA Today about the Consumer Data Industry Association and its efforts on behalf of the three major credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion) to slow legislative efforts at the state level regarding laws that enable consumers to freeze access to their credit histories. They write that "by far the best protection against new-account fraud is a credit freeze, say credit consultants and fraud investigators. A credit freeze bars the credit bureaus from issuing your credit report — the summary of loans and payments that forms the basis of your credit score."

Mike Weiss reports for the San Francisco Chronicle an amazing story of how an identity theft victim came across the thief who had stolen her identity while having coffee at Starbucks and then chased her until she was captured by the police, tried and convicted. The victim, Karen Lodrick, a design consultant, has written about her experience on her personal blog, www.FightingBackNow.com.

Financial Insights has announced the release of a new report titled "Consumers Speak About Identity Theft: Does Perception = Reality for U.S. Banks?" examining consumer perceptions of identity theft and fraud that explores how consumers are adjusting their behaviors regarding low cost self-service channels to protect themselves from the crime.   » Continue Reading

The PULSE EFT Association has launched its annual nationwide effort encouraging consumers to review and practice safety tips when using their ATM/debit cards. New to the network’s ATM/Debit Card Safety Awareness Month campaign this June is an increased focus on privacy and fraud protection.   » Continue Reading

Arcot is holding a seminar in New York on Wednesday, June 6, titled "Taking the eFraud Out of eBanking - Preventing Identity Fraud in Financial Services".

The FDIC last week issued its "Supervisory Policy on Identity Theft" describing the characteristics of identity theft and setting forth the FDIC's expectations that institutions under its supervision take steps to detect and prevent identity theft and mitigate its effects in order to protect consumers and help ensure institutions' safe and sound operations. "The FDIC treats the theft of personal financial information as a significant risk area due to its potential to impact the safety and soundness of an institution, harm consumers, and undermine confidence in the banking system and economy. The FDIC believes that its collaborative efforts with the industry, the public and its fellow regulators will significantly minimize threats to data security and consumers."

The Ask the Advisor blog posts a 24-point recovery checklist outlining actions recommended for identity theft victims - noting that "you can reduce your risks for identity theft, but you don't have control over government agencies, hospitals, or retail stores that manage to lose your personal information."

Cyveillance has announced availability of a report titled “Online Financial Fraud and Identity Theft” (PDF) that highlights the growth of Internet attacks and identifies the industries most at risk.   » Continue Reading

Diana Ransom writes for the Wall St. Journal about the techniques one should follow to minimize the chances of identity theft by electronic means - especially if you're using a wireless router in your home or business.

Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt in their column for the New York Times Sunday Magazine write about identity theft - suggesting that it's not the consumer or card issuer who cards about identity theft - but, rather, it's the merchant. In the world of card not present transactions online, "If you’re a merchant, you have all the liability.”

ID Analytics has introduced Breach Analysis Services for enterprises - "the only solution on the market that can determine with a high degree of accuracy whether a data breach is truly a source of identity theft or related harm" according to the company.   » Continue Reading

On April 23 and 24, 2007, the Federal Trade Commission will host a public workshop, “Proof Positive: New Directions in ID Authentication,” to explore methods to reduce identity theft through enhanced authentication. The workshop will facilitate a discussion among public- sector, private-sector, and consumer representatives, and will focus on technological and policy requirements for developing better authentication processes, including the incorporation of privacy standards and consideration of consumer usability issues.   » Continue Reading

ID Analytics has announced the results of analytical research on U.S. identity fraud by geography. The new research, with the company saying this is the first ever research to be based on actual and attempted frauds rather than on consumer victim reports. The results show that the states with the highest rates of identity fraud are New York and the Western states of California, Nevada and Arizona, while the states with the lowest rates of identity fraud are Wyoming, Vermont and Montana.   » Continue Reading

The Federal Trade Commission has issued its annual report, “Consumer Fraud and Identity Theft Complaint Data,” (PDF) reporting on complaints consumers have filed with the agency. For the seventh year in a row, identity theft tops the list, accounting for 36 percent of the 674,354 complaints received between January 1 and December 31, 2006. Other categories near the top of the complaint list include shop-at-home/catalog sales; prizes, sweepstakes and lotteries; Internet services and computer complaints; and Internet auction fraud.

Javelin Strategy & Research has released its 2007 Identity Fraud Survey Report, saying it provides "compelling new information about the reduction of identity fraud across the United States, while also identifying important risk differentiators between age and income demographics." According to the report, identity fraud has declined by about 12 percent over the previous year - that translates into a total fraud reduction of $6.4 billion according to Javelin. The survey is co-sponsored by CheckFree, Visa and Wells Fargo & Company.   » Continue Reading

According to the Identity Theft Assistance Center (ITAC) , two out of five identity theft victims surveyed know how their personal data was stolen, "providing valuable insight about how identity theft occurs."   » Continue Reading

TrustedID has announced what it calls "the first-ever free global service that allows consumers to check a secure database to find out if their personal information has been stolen or compromised." The new service -- StolenID Search -- is powered by "the world’s largest aggregation of stolen and compromised data and contains more than 2 million pieces of information."   » Continue Reading

Unisys has announced the results of a new survey concluding that "a majority of U.S. consumers fear their personal information and security will be compromised while shopping online or using online banking services this holiday season, resulting in the potential loss of significant revenue for banking and retail institutions." According to the study, concerns about bank card fraud and identity theft are so high among consumers that nearly one in every two consumers polled has ceased using online personal banking services, as well as telephone and Internet-based shopping, if the transaction requires a credit card number   » Continue Reading

Eric Dash reports for the New York Times on the money being made by companies offering identity theft protection services to US consumers. Dash reports that "fear of identity theft has helped give rise to a nearly billion-dollar business in credit-monitoring services sold by the major credit bureaus."

Retailers and charities aren't the only ones expecting to benefit from the upcoming holiday shopping season. With the average shopper expected to spend nearly $800 this year on holiday merchandise, according to the National Retail Federation, thieves are also looking to cash in on the season. Besides stealing money and objects, identity theft is gaining popularity among criminals.   » Continue Reading

According to the latest Experian-Gallup Personal Credit Index survey, one in five (19 percent) consumers report that they have had their financial information stolen including a bank or credit card number. Approximately one in seven (14 percent) say they have had their personal information stolen, such as a birth certificate, driver's license or Social Security number. Combined, 26 percent of Americans report being the victim of one type of theft, while 7 percent report experiencing both.   » Continue Reading

TransUnion has announced that it has joined Utica College’s Center for Identity Management and Information Protection (CIMIP), a research collaborative composed of elite public and private sector organizations, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Secret Service, LexisNexis, IBM and three prominent universities. The organization is dedicated to using applied research to further a national research agenda on identity management, information sharing and data protection.   » Continue Reading

Symantec and VeriSign have announced plans to deliver "security solutions to combat the growing threat of consumer identity theft and fraud on the Internet." Symantec plans to offer support for the VeriSign Identity Protection (VIP) Authentication Service, which allows consumers to utilize one-time passwords to protect their online identity.   » Continue Reading

Joris Evers reports for CNET News.com about the new Banking Identity Safety Scorecard released by Javelin Strategy & Research that suggests Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase and Washington Mutual do the best job for their customers in preventing, detecting and resolving ID theft

Tom Zeller Jr. reports for the New York Times on a statistic developed by the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse - roughly 93,754,333 private consumer records have been compromised in some fashion. What do consumers get if their data has been compromised? Typically, one year of free credit monitoring paid for by the company responsible for the compromise. Zeller goes on to report "in the battle to stop the great hemorrhaging of personal data, the enemy is us."

The Department of Justice has announced that the President’s Identity Theft Task Force has adopted interim recommendations on measures that can be implemented immediately to help address the problem of identity theft. The Identity Theft Task Force, which was established by Executive Order of the President on May 10, 2006, and is now comprised of 17 federal agencies and departments, will deliver a final strategic plan to the President in November.   » Continue Reading

Javelin Strategy & Research has published a new report, "Data Breaches and Identity Fraud: Misunderstanding Could Fail Consumers and Burden Businesses", concluding that incorrect beliefs about the way consumer data breaches have an impact on identity fraud may lead to ineffective actions taken by consumers. Javelin says the misunderstandings may also lead to flawed protective measures taken by corporations as well as state and local governments.   » Continue Reading

Matt Richtel and Miguel Helft of the New York Times report on the "pretexting" indusry - made sudden much more famous as a result of the recent Hewlett-Packard board investigation. They say that "retexters often use techniques similar to those employed by identity thieves to obtain not only telephone records but also other private data." They cite industry experts who say all you need to get access to a wireless subscribers bill is the last four digits of a person's Social Security number and their zip code. While using pretexting to gain access to financial records was made illegal at the federal level in 1999, using it to access telephone records isn't clearly illegal.

Steve Stasiukonis, VP and founder of Secure Network Technologies Inc., writes for Dr. Dobb's about one example of a successful social engineering attack that could have resulted in identity theft. Stasiukonis writes "in a recent project, my penetration testing firm was able to gain an alarming amount of access to personal information -- and even financial accounts -- with only a birth date to go on."

The American Bankers Association has announced the results of a new survey finding that, by a ratio of 6-to-1, consumers trust banks more than other institutions when it comes to their personal records.   » Continue Reading

Riva Richmond writes for the Wall St. Journal about several startups offering new services to help prevent identity theft. Included are TrustedID, which focuses on freezing credit information at credit bureaus, and LifeLock, which manages placing fraud alerts on consumer credit files. Others mentioned include CardCops, Cyveillence, and ID Analytics.

On Thursday, the Wall St. Journal's Walter Mossberg provided some blunt advice to consumers about how to avoid the latest scams. At the top of his list: Don't trust email from financial institutions. According to Mossberg, "email is so easily manipulated by crooks that you simply should never, ever consider any email from a financial institution as legitimate."

In a bid to realign its business footing, ChoicePoint announced plans to sell its direct marketing, forensic DNA and shareholder services businesses units. As part of the realignment, the company also announced that it is buying some of the assests of ePolicy, including one of the company's software products for the insurance industry.

Richard Craver reports for the Winston-Salem Journal on identity theft services and questions the relatively high costs that banks are attempting to get for these services.

Dayana Yochim writes for The Motley Fool how "credit fraud is like a poison gas -- nearly undetectable until after the debilitating effects have begun to take hold" - and what to do about it including outlining seven signs that your credit may be under attack.

Our friends at TrustedID have recently launched a new blog focused on identity theft and, more importantly, identity theft prevention.

As part of a series on identity theft titled "Stolen Lives - A Breeding Groud", New York Times writers John Leland and Tom Zeller Jr. report on a wave of identity theft in the Scottsdale and Phoenix area - reporting that big part of the problem is that "In recent years banks have campaigned energetically to extend more credit to more people with fewer hassles, and retailers and consumers have embraced instant, near-anonymous access to credit."

President Bush has signed an Executive Order strengthening Federal government efforts to protect against identity theft by appointing an Identity Theft Task Force to be co-chaired by the Attorney General and the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission. Fact Sheet.

SunTrust Bank has announced a free identity theft protection and credit-monitoring program from Equifax, "becoming the first major bank in the nation to provide Equifax Credit Watch Silver protection for free to select personal checking clients."   » Continue Reading

Equifax and PayPal have announced a new credit alert program that provides PayPal account holders in the United States with free monitoring of their credit records. Through this relationship, PayPal users receive free early warnings alerting them to activity on their Equifax credit report.   » Continue Reading

MasterCard International, Genworth Financial, Toyota Financial Services and Toyota Financial Savings Bank, and New Century Financial Corporation have become members of the Identity Theft Assistance Center (ITAC), a not-for-profit cooperative initiative that offers free victim assistance.   » Continue Reading

Javelin Strategy & Research has announced its 2006 Card Issuers' Identity Safety Scorecard saying it reveals a significant difference when comparing the performance of the top-rated and the bottom-rated credit card issuers in partnering with customers to protect against identity fraud.   » Continue Reading

Glen Fest writes for Bank Technology News about an "Online Banking Safety Scorecard" survey from Javelin Strategy and Research of Pleasanton, CA. A key message from the survey is that banks are missing opportunities to involve their customers in both detecting and preventing fraud. Glenbrook's Russ Jones wrote an opinion piece on this subject three years ago titled "Identity Theft: I Should Be The First To Know".

Robert McMillan of the IDG News Service reports that about 3 percent of all households in the U.S., totaling an estimated 3.6 million families, were affected by some sort of ID theft during the first six months of 2004 according to Department of Justice data from its annual National Crime Victimization Survey.   » Continue Reading

TransUnion has announced it will be integrating the ID Analytics ID Score into its Fraud and Identity Management Services.   » Continue Reading

Edward Epstein reports for the San Francisco Chronicle on legislation pending in the House that would mandate certain uniform national standards for consumer notifications in the event of breaches of personal financial data, thereby pre-empting various state laws that are in effect dealing with notification requirements.   » Continue Reading

Mario Toneguzzi of the CanWest News Service writes about mortgage fraud becoming over a billion dollar a year industry in Canada.   » Continue Reading

Sonja Ryst writes for Business Week about her personal experience getting worried about a potential identity theft and what she learned about putting a freeze on her credit file at the three major credit bureaus.

Unisys has announced survey results from the UK finding that UK consumers place most confidence in biometric technologies, such as fingerprint and eye retina recognition, to help combat identity theft.   » Continue Reading

Eileen Alt Powell reports for the Associated Press on credit alerts, access to credit reports, and security freezes increasingly being used by consumers to limit access to their credit reports. She reports that credit issuers are worried about increasing use of security freezes by consumers.   » Continue Reading

The Business Journal of Phoenix reports on efforts by Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard to get financial institutions to offer consumers in his state what he's calling Fraud Fighter Accounts.   » Continue Reading

The Federal Trade Commission has announced that CardSystems Solutions, Inc. and its successor, Solidus Networks, Inc., doing business as Pay By Touch Solutions, have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that CardSystems' failure to take appropriate security measures to protect the sensitive information of tens of millions of consumers was an unfair practice that violated federal law.   » Continue Reading

In a speech today at the California Identity Theft Summit being held in Los Angeles by the California Department of Consumer Affairs, FTC Chairwoman Deborah Platt Majoras spoke on "Teaming Up Against Identity Theft" (PDF).   » Continue Reading

Gregg Keizer reports for Information Week on Charles Schwab's announcement yesterday that the online broker will provide a guarantee against any and all losses from unauthorized account access. Called the Schwab Security Guarantee, it is an effort intended to help calm customer concerns about phishing and identity theft.   » Continue Reading

Mark Rasch writes for SecurityFocus about a recent lawsuit in Minnesota (PDF) in which a victim who was included in a data breach of a financial service provider's 550,000 customer database sued the company for breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and negligence.   » Continue Reading

Hitesh Patel of KPMG Forensic takes a look at the benefits of the recent Chip and PIN implementation in the UK and predicts how fraudsters might evolve to alternative strategies.

Joseph Pellicciotti reports for the Northwest Indiana Times on a new presentation available online from the FDIC. Titled "Don't Be an On-line Victim: How to Guard Against Internet Thieves and Electronic Scams", the presentation is designed to educate consumers about the steps they can take to protect themselves from identity theft and what they can do if they've become victims.

Bill Husted writes from tomorrow's Atlanta Journal-Constitution about what a difference a year has made to suburban Atlanta-based ChoicePoint.   » Continue Reading

VeriSign has announced the VeriSign Fraud Detection Service targeted at preventing online identity theft.   » Continue Reading

ID Analytics has announced findings from its analysis of publicly-available information on 70 data breaches that occurred in 2005 showing that few of the breached identities appeared to be misused for criminal financial gain.   » Continue Reading

Richard Dalton reports for Newsday on recent increases in thefts from consumer checking accounts using cloned counterfeit debit cards and captured PINs that are then used at ATMs to get cash.   » Continue Reading

Javelin Strategy & Research and the Council of Better Business Bureaus have released some of the results from their 2006 Identity Fraud Survey reporting that "that despite growing fears the growth of identity fraud is contained and that data compromise through the Internet is actually less severe, less costly and not as widespread as previously thought."   » Continue Reading

Christopher Conkey reports for the Wall St. Journal on new research by Javelin Strategy & Research and the Better Business Bureau to be released tomorrow that concludes that abou