Identity Theft the Next Generation of Fraud– How well are the Irish Protecting Themselves?

ABSTRACT

There have always been impostors who have pretended to be someone else for the purposes of theft or some other unlawful act. However with the increased use of information and communication technology (ICT) identify theft, the new way of talking about impostors, has enormously increased.  Identity theft is facilitated by the ubiquitous availability of the Internet and by the increasing tendency to store personal information digitally. As a result cyber crime has been growing rapidly and identity theft has become one of the fastest growing cyber crimes.  Combating this type of crime is not trivial and consumers, businesses, and governments need to take preventative measures to limit their potential exposure to this.  This paper focuses on consumer awareness of identity theft. The study uses an exploratory approach of measuring the self-reported behaviour of undergraduate students from different disciplines and age cohorts. These students were exposed to a number of identity theft preventative activities that were suggested by the US Federal Trade Commission.  The results are compared to a similar study carried in 2001 out by George R.M Milne.  Based on these findings, suggestions are made for improving consumer awareness of these crimes and future research is recommended.


AUTHORS

School of Computer Science and Statistics, Trinity College, Dublin
Ireland

Aideen Keaney has spent nearly fifteen years working in the ICT field as an IS professional, business consultant and end-user. She currently is employed as a lecturer in information systems in the School of Computer Science and Statistics, Trinity College Dublin. Her research interests are in the areas of computer security with particular emphasis on identity theft and identity management.

School of Computer Science and Statistics, Trinity College, Dublin

Dan Remenyi is a Visiting Professor in Information Systems Management at Trinity College Dublin and an associated member of faculty at Henley Management College in the United Kingdom. As a management consultant working world wide, he has worked with computers as an IS professional, business consultant and as a user. In recent years he has specialised in all things “e” including e-Business, e-Government and now e-Democracy. He has written books and papers in a variety of aspects of the field of IT and regularly conducts courses and seminar as well as working as a consultant in this area. He holds a BsocSc, an MBA, and a PhD.

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Keywords

A

AI
APT

C

C2
C2S
CDX
CIA
CIP
CPS

D

DNS
DoD
DoS

I

IA
ICS

M

S

SOA

X

XRY

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