Identity theft is on the rise. Watch this episode to find out what you need to know to prevent it from happening to you.
Guests
Mark Powell
Mark Powell
Mark Powell is the Director of OIT Data Security for the University of Minnesota's Office of Information Technology (OIT). Mark has been working with computer systems in higher education for over 30 years and more than 25 years at the University of Minnesota. He helped design and implement many systems at the University going back to the first online registration system that replaced punch cards. Since moving to OIT, he helped develop and support several Enterprise Systems. OIT Data Security designs and manages data access and system security for Enterprise Systems. He says it's okay to be a little paranoid about protecting yourself from identify theft.
Susan Matt
Susan Matt
Sue Matt has worked for the Postal Service for over 15 years in a variety of positions. She is currently a postal inspector (a federal law enforcement agent) who specializes in mail fraud investigations and is the public information officer for the St. Paul Field Office.
Jason Tossey
Jason Tossey
Jason Tossey is a University of Minnesota police officer. He grew up in the St. Paul metro area, served in the U.S. Navy in Haiti and Bosnia, and received a number of achievement medals. He then earned a bachelor's degree with honors in criminal justice from St. Cloud State University and attended police academy training at Alexandria Technical College. He joined the University of Minnesota Police Department (UMPD) in April 2000 and currently conducts follow-up investigations on all East Bank cases and investigates computer fraud, forgery, and identity theft cases. He also is a member of the UMPD's executive protection unit.
For Your Files
Data security director Mark Powell outlined some common sense ways to prevent identity theft:
"Be aware. You don't want to give out a lot of personal information on the telephone or through e-mail. There are basic things about keeping your patches current, [and] having anti-virus software [and] a Firewall, especially if you're on like a cable modem or high-speed network. Anti-spyware software is another thing that's coming up. And then [one of the] other things you can do with your computer is take sensitive information offline. If you're on your home computer and you've done your taxes and you have all sorts of information there, you may just want to burn that onto a CD and then remove it from your hard drive so that if your computer were compromised they wouldn't be able to get to that personal information."
Mark said beware of phishing:
"It's a scam where someone will send you an e-mail and pretend to be from your bank or from another prominent company and try to get you to click on their URL, which looks right. Then they try to encourage you to provide ... all your private information. Most companies won't ever ask you for that information online. The best advice is to just delete it."
Finally, Mark said you need to protect yourself when you get rid of your computer:
"You need to use a piece of software to wipe the hard drive completely clean. When you delete files or even format your hard disk ... the files are really there. It's just sort of destroying the table of contents. So you need to make sure that you actually wipe your hard drive clean before you give it to somebody else."
Postal Inspector Susan Matt said if your identity has been stolen you also need to take additional steps:
"So that first call is going to be to your local police department. If you suspect that your mail has been stolen or that the mail is used in any way, shape, or form, the second call is going to be to your postal inspection service. Following notifying law enforcement, definitely contact your bank or financial institution. You're going to want to contact your credit card companies and also the three major credit reporting agencies. It's very important to do that. You can put a fraud alert on your credit and so that if anyone attempts to take out additional credit using your personal identifiers you will be notified of that."
Sue also gave us a couple of final reminders:
"It's very important to check those monthly statements when you receive them because you have a limited amount of time to dispute any fraudulent charges. I always recommend that you check your credit history at least once a year, just to keep on top of it."
Links
Mark recommended visiting the Anti-Phishing Working Group Web site and the University of Minnesota's Phishing Scams page.
Sue Matt discussed the three credit reporting agencies:
- Equifax (800-525-6285)
- Experian (888-397-3742)
- TransUnion (800-680-7289)
Sue works for the Postal Inspection Service; information about it is available on the service's splash page and home page.
Firewall
Software that turns off ports on a computer and filters the information
going to and coming from the Internet.
Patch
A computer program that fixes security problems in your operating system.
Phishing
When spammers send you e-mail that appears to be from a legitimate organization and ask for your account information such as your identification number and password. They then use this information to send computer viruses to others.