Each day we transact an impressive amount of personal data on the Internet without having any idea the way it is processed and for what purpose. With the term identity theft it is usual to indicate all the types of crimes in which the personal data of an individual are used for fraudulent activities.This is why you should keep the facebook.com nearby now.
According to a classification proposed by the professional institute, identity theft falls into the following macro categories:
How are identity thefts?
There is no typical scenario, however the most common ways are to acquire the data of the victims are:
- Through an attack of social engineering (social engineering) in which the victims are induced to reveal the information through techniques that influence our attitude in particular situations,
- Through the theft of data from a commercial transaction during a retail sale,
- By hacking computer systems,
- Through phishing attacks,
- Through malware-based attacks that can steal personal data and bank credentials from victims’ devices,
- Through theft of bags or wallets,
- Through the theft of personal documents,
As reported in the report on computer security, it emerges that from the Postal Police data the number of complaints is increasing day by day, more than thousand credit frauds were perpetrated through identity theft, with a total damage of millions of Dollars. Here are some suggestions to defend your digital identity, whether you are using a social network or a mobile application.
For mobile devices:
- Install an antivirus,
- Activate the data connection only as needed,
- Do not download software from unofficial app stores,
- Check the permissions granted to applications,
- Do not perform procedures for jailbreak or root of the mobile device,
- Make sure that the operating system is always updated to the latest version, as well as the applications used,
- Make sure that it is possible to remotely intervene on the content of your mobile phone in case of loss,
- To encrypt the data in use on the mobile.
Regarding user behavior on the Internet:
- Make online purchases only on sites deemed reliable,
- Take all necessary measures to secure your network,
- Pay attention to phishing attempts and spam emails. Avoid responding to unsolicited emails,
- Do not provide personal or sensitive data on untrusted websites,
- Use alerts for operations on your online banking, an SMS can promptly inform you of an unauthorized transaction,
- Avoid using the same password for multiple web services,
- Do not provide private data on insecure networks (e.g. public networks),
Do not disclose sensitive or personal information on social networking sites. Such personal data are commonly used by banks and credit card companies as security questions to identify an individual and authorize “special” transactions,
Be careful when sharing profile details. Carefully manage your privacy settings so you can control who can access our profile and what they can view.
However, all these direct or indirect obstacles to the characterization of the theft did not win the conviction of the Court. On the contrary, summarizing the motivation of the appellate court, it considers that the defendant subtracted data that he used without the consent of their owner, thereby admitting that the theft may relate to computer data and that these are likely to be appropriate and fraudulently withdrawn the intention delusive is in this case tacitly verified.