Editor's Note: Identity Theft Is Growing, And Getting Worse
- By Ralph C. Jensen
- Jul 05, 2007
More than 100 million records have been stolen in just the past two years, and the cost of dealing with a data breach has risen by 30 percent to $4.8 million per incident. The cost of payment card fraud resulting from identity theft is estimated at $60 billion per year.
In our August issue of Security Products, we’ll be bringing you an article from Eric Linxwiler of EncryptaKey. He says that most security solutions today attempt to hide the true problem of identity theft by distracting customers and users from actual security vulnerabilities.
Linxwiler said that “encryption may protect hard-drive content from someone attempting to access files without permission, but it does nothing to prevent the capture of those same files when protected data is accessed and decrypted for use by the end user.”
The fact is, there are easier ways to capture information -- someone could focus on security systems and services. But that is not the most common point of data loss. The easiest point to exploit is the end user’s computer.
It’s also important to begin with multi-factor authentication, which has been a security cornerstone for years. Two fundamental benefits of multi-factor authentication is a near-absolute guarantee of identity verification, and it offers a totally secure storage, transport and access to personal and corporate data via any desktop or laptop by anyone. This combination resolves critical security issues of identity theft and data loss.
About the Author
Ralph C. Jensen is the Publisher/Editor in chief of Security Today magazine.