ID Theft Threats to Watch in 2010

70 percent of all hacking happens internal to the company

Via BankInfoSecurity.com (12/29/09) ; Field, Tom

Identity Theft Resource Center executive director Jay Foley identifies a number of ID theft trends and threats to watch for in 2010. He notes that the most prominent ID theft story in 2009 was the Heartland security breach orchestrated by Albert Gonzales, which involved the compromise of more than 130 million credit and debit card accounts. Foley says that although Gonzales was caught, many other young hackers are going to transition from hacking just for fun to hacking to make money. "We are seeing kids in the high school level who are setting up Web sites, selling products that don't exist, taking the credit cards, and going to town on them," he warns. Foley categorizes the payment industry and the payment services industry as the sectors most vulnerable to ID theft, because the companies that process debit and credit card transactions are the most appealing targets. "If a thief can get into your software and can get into your data, they have ready cash right there at their fingertips," he notes. Foley says information security professionals have to come to terms with the fact that the biggest threat is from insiders rather than outsiders. "The numbers ... have said for the past eight or nine years that 70 percent of all hacking happens internal to the company," he notes.Source: BankInfoSecurity.com

TIME TO REVIEW YOUR FIDELITY LIMITS