Date: January 2007
Contact: Media Coordinator - 858-693-7935 x104
For IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Identity Theft Resource Center ’s
2006 Year in Review and Predictions for 2007

“Contrary to popular opinion, 2006 was not the Year of the Breach,” states Jay Foley of the Identity Theft Resource Center, “rather it was the year when breaches received a great deal of public awareness.”

San Diego, CA. - Looking back on the year 2006, the Identity Theft Resource Center™, nationally recognized for its expertise on identity theft and victim assistance, has reviewed the events of the last year, and put them into perspective. It is not a perspective that all identity theft experts may agree with, especially ones that wish to blame anyone but criminals for identity theft.

“The world of identity theft continues to evolve,” said Linda Foley, Founder of ITRC. “However, we are optimistic about the trends we are seeing in corporate America in dealing with this crime. In 2006, 25 states created laws in regard to identity theft and information security. Congress introduced 34 bills. While these federal bills were not finalized, the fact that Congress is in discussion about this crime gives us hope for the future. We are also encouraged that Congress is taking the time to make sure the laws it passes will actually be beneficial and not just a knee-jerk reaction that does not address the complete picture.”

2006 in Review:

• Breaches: “Contrary to popular opinion, 2006 was not the Year of the Breach,” insists Jay Foley, Executive Director of ITRC. “Rather it was the year when breaches received a great deal of public awareness. Many companies have begun to implement improved information handling practices. If not, there would have been more than the 300+ breaches that made headlines. Unfortunately it is only negative news that gets attention – the breaches, and not the companies that are acting as responsible corporate citizens. Improvements still need to be made in the governmental, military and educational arenas where a vast amount of personal information is available. It is my considered opinion that these three arenas need to be more aware of the information that they collect and how it can be exploited.”
• Safe information handling: 2006 saw several new taskforces formed, led by industry giants. These groups unified to study the problems companies face and to develop information handling strategies that will better address information leakage. These taskforces opened discussions on regulations, definitions, and understanding of current crime trends.
• 2006 crime trends: We saw increased crime sophistication as identity thieves became more skilled at their profession. As each year passes, they improve their techniques. They become more adept at counterfeiting, avoiding crime detection, and have learned just how far to push the system to stay under the radar. Identity theft is also being used to finance other major crimes such as drug trafficking. Medical identity theft is the new “topic du jour.” However, consumers have been victimized by this crime for years. Clearly there is still much confusion on the steps needed to clear one’s fraudulent financial and medical records and work to do regarding this situation. The past year also saw an increase in both quantity and quality of “Phishing” scams. Although there has been much attention toward educating the consumers about phishing, people continue to be victimized by this ploy.
• Consumer education: ITRC believes the public is still confused by identity theft and what it is. Sheila Gordon, Director of Victim Services, remarks, “How can we, as a nation, educate consumers on identity theft when there is no consistent definition of what identity theft truly is? This has also led to varying survey results. Many think that credit monitoring services will completely protect them. In truth, these services only play a partial role in notifying consumers of potential financial identity theft cases. Consumers also do not understand that financial identity theft is only one of several types of identity theft crime.”
• Illegal Immigration: Like all crimes, identity theft is a function of opportunity and motivation. As such, it occurs in many ways, and is committed by a wide range of perpetrators, including family members and employees. The ITRC is not aware of any persuasive data suggesting that illegal immigrants are more likely than others to commit this crime. However, trafficking in identities and current system flaws clearly present the opportunity to be used by illegal immigrants. This issue was more apparent as the year came to a close.

Predictions:

As we move into 2007, we have projected trends for this New Year based on 2006’s trends and ITRC’s studied expertise in identity theft.

• There will be an increase in check fraud, check synthesizing, and check counterfeiting due to efforts to stop fraudulent use and issuance of credit cards. This is due to the lack of focus on checking account criminal activity and what to do for victims of this crime. In some cases, check fraud becomes the never ending story, and can lead to the arrest of the victim.
• There is still a lack of sensitivity and responsiveness toward victims by some law enforcement agencies, companies, and government agencies. It is ITRC’s intense hope that this issue will be finally addressed so that victims of identity theft can restore their lives more rapidly from this crime.
• Child, family, and domestic identify theft victims will be acknowledged by law enforcement and companies. Their crimes will be addressed and solutions to stop child and deceased identity theft found.
• We will see more communication between various law enforcement entities in multi-jurisdictional cases including the creation of regional taskforces.
• Phishing will continue to grow as a problem. However, we will see new solutions and protections available in the marketplace.

About the Identity Theft Resource Center: In 2004, this organization received an award from the United States Attorney General for excellence in the field of identity theft. A nonprofit that is funded solely by grants and donations, the ITRC provides victim assistance without charge and works with various entities to find solutions to battle this crime. Besides victim assistance, ITRC has a comprehensive speaker’s program, which includes topics such as Information Risk Management, training victim advisors and other business related topics. ITRC is also a consultant for a number of companies interested in the field of identity theft.

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