| In its annual report earlier this year, the | | | | is absolutely necessary and this is your only |
| Federal Trade Commission announced that the | | | | option. See the related story from ABC News' |
| most vulnerable targets of identity theft are | | | | Good Morning America in the video below.) |
| 18-29-year olds. Likewise, the 2007 Identity | | | | |
| Fraud Survey Report, released by Javelin | | | | * They inhabit social networking sites and |
| Strategy & Research, uncovers similar | | | | let their younger siblings share the site |
| findings: "Adult victims between the ages of | | | | with them. (While social networking sites, |
| 18 and 24 are least likely to take easy, but | | | | like MySpace, and many others, are extremely |
| important, safeguards such as shredding | | | | popular communities where young people |
| documents and using antivirus software and | | | | innocently engage in countless hours of banal |
| firewalls, resulting in more than 5 percent | | | | chatter and photo-sharing, unfortunately, |
| of those surveyed falling victim." | | | | these social networking sites have also |
| | | | become the hangouts for child predators, |
| And Stephen Knighten, a research associate | | | | child pornographers, and other |
| for Javelin Strategy & Research, adds that | | | | cybercriminals. HintPutting filtering and |
| residence hall life may increase a student's | | | | monitoring software on kids' computers |
| risk for identity theft: "Oftentimes, you're | | | | provides some protection. Parents, use |
| in a situation where you probably have a | | | | legitimate software to block Web sites and |
| roommate and people coming in and out of your | | | | create a log of visited sites. As parents and |
| apartment … physical documents tend to | | | | guardians, you can monitor a child's activity |
| sort of sit around, and there are more | | | | from other computers and be notified of |
| avenues of access with your roommates' | | | | violations via E-mail or cell phone.) |
| friends and your friends." | | | | |
| | | | * They quickly and without verifying |
| The Internet Crimes Against Children program | | | | identities add new "friends" to their instant |
| last year investigated 2,329 cases of | | | | messenger buddy lists. (While it is rewarding |
| enticement and of predators traveling to meet | | | | to see your buddy list grow with new friends |
| minors, and 252,000 cases of child | | | | from around the world, be sure that you |
| pornography. Yet those numbers provide just a | | | | absolutely know that the new friend is |
| glimpse of the activity, since many local | | | | actually who he says he or she is. Many times |
| police forces are too small to investigate | | | | predators and cybercriminals (male and |
| child porn. | | | | female) will hide behind pictures of |
| | | | extremely attractive ladies in sexy poses. |
| "It's absolutely overwhelming," says Brad | | | | HintBefore adding any new friends to your |
| Russ, director of Internet Crimes Against | | | | buddy list, take time to read their profile |
| Children's training and technical assistance | | | | (which may or may not be completed fully), or |
| program, which trains 1,000 officers each | | | | do further investigation by visiting their |
| year. "The scope and the scale of the problem | | | | website. An incomplete profile should serve |
| far exceeds our capacity." Intensifying the | | | | as a red flag and raise you level of |
| epidemic is that more than half the world has | | | | suspicion.) |
| no laws dealing with child pornography. | | | | |
| | | | It may take a village to raise a child, but |
| And what are some of the other careless acts | | | | in a world of online social networking, |
| of college students that leave them | | | | decentralized networks and servers, and |
| vulnerable to identity theft? Here are a few | | | | increasingly tech-savvy child predators, it's |
| of the ways they might be inviting predators, | | | | going to take a united effort among |
| hackers, and other cybercriminals: | | | | government, industry, and families to keep |
| | | | them safe. To protect your child, you need an |
| * They setup and use an unsecured wireless | | | | Internet security team of experts making sure |
| network. (Hackers love this because it makes | | | | that you, your family, and your business |
| their drive-by hacking that much easier. And | | | | computer are always safe and secure. |
| not only is the student' information stolen, | | | | |
| but the hacker may add software to turn the | | | | The best protection you can have in today's |
| student's computer into a "zombie" computer | | | | rapidly changing world of cyber-attacks is to |
| thereby taking remote control of it. Hint:It | | | | have expert support for all your Internet |
| only takes a few more moments to create a | | | | security needs that will provide technical |
| userid and password for an extra level of | | | | support without any hassles and without |
| protection.) | | | | charging you extra fees. It will become even |
| | | | more critical than it is today as time goes |
| * They use guests' computers in the business | | | | on. You need to find your own personal team |
| centers of hotels to enter their personal and | | | | of experts to rely on. If you ever have a |
| or financial information. (The newest trend | | | | security problem, you will want to have a |
| for hackers is to hack into these computers | | | | trusted expert you can call for professional |
| so that can secretly record every keystroke | | | | help, without any hassles and extra costs! |
| and commit other crimes using the student's | | | | |
| information. Hint:If you use courtesy | | | | Remember: When you say "No!" to hackers and |
| computers at a hotel, make absolutely sure | | | | spyware, everyone wins! When you don't, we |
| that you are on a safe and secured line. And, | | | | all lose. |
| taking it a step further, do not enter any | | | | |
| personal and financial information unless it | | | | © MMVII, Etienne A. |