Volume 6
July-Aug 2016 Edition
mation on where their customers shop and how
they interact with advertising, while identity thieves
and foreign operatives are happy to pay top-dollar
for complete sets of individuals’ personal identifiable information.
But how does this translate into a national security
threat? In several different ways. The most obvious
large-scale threat is that of domestic crime and terrorism while the perpetrators operate under complete yet falsified identities. This ability to operate
under a stolen identity essentially derails any hope
of investigators uncovering the activities of these
instigators and preventing further crime.
On a more day-to-day scale, identity theft weakens
our economy and can even lead to complacency
about personal security. There are costs associated with every victim report of identity theft, costs
that are absorbed by retailers, financial institutions,
and even the government; those economic losses
affect everyone at some level. If the financial sector absorbs some of the dollar losses, we as consumers pay for it. When the IRS has to absorb
the billions of dollars a year in fraud losses from
filing fake tax returns, we all pay for it. When we
calculate the missed opportunity cost, the lost jobs,
the loss of secure housing, the loss of college opportunities and educational opportunities for young
people – we all pay for it.
Sadly, with every new report of another data breach
or large-scale hacking event, the public perception
about their own security gets chipped away a little
more, leading to the idea that identity theft is just
another unavoidable facet of everyday life. The
most important part of the mission at this point may
be in helping consumers understand that they do
play a key role in protecting themselves and their
data, and that together with law enforcement agencies, the financial and retail sectors, and the government, we can put a stop to the widespread theft
of our data.
About the author
Eva Casey Velasquez is the President/CEO at the
Identity Theft Resource Center, a non-profit organization which serves victims of identity theft. Ms.
Velasquez previously served as the Vice President
of Operations for the San Diego Better Business
Bureau and spent 21 years at the San Diego District Attorney’s Office.
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