Today, identity theft is an essential concern for individuals and organizations alike. It occurs when perpetrators steal personal or business information to commit fraud (The United States Government, 2018). Using such information, criminals can open bank accounts, obtain medical services using another person’s insurance, file tax returns, and perform other fraudulent actions that can be harmful to persons and businesses. Preventing identity theft requires planned efforts, such as regular checks, adequate account protection, and prompt reporting in case of suspicious activity. There is a variety of online tools aimed at improving people’s knowledge of identity theft, as well as preventing schemes. The present paper will examine the OnGuard Online Identity Theft Quiz, as well as discuss the precautions that individuals and organizations can take to avoid identity theft.
The OnGuard Online Identity Theft Quiz was designed to improve individuals’ knowledge of identity theft precautions. The quiz contains eight questions. To me, all of the questions were rather simple. Detailed explanations and links to other sources for further information, on the other hand, were helpful. At the end of the quiz, there is a link to the OnGuard Online website, which appears to be broken. However, the link redirects to the website of the Federal Trade Commission that has features for filing a consumer complaint and reporting identity theft. Personally, I believe that the quiz may be useful for individuals that are not familiar with identity theft but is not challenging enough for those who know the basics. Adding several difficulty modes to test groups of consumers with different levels of awareness would make the quiz useful for all users.
Identity theft precaution measures can be distributed into three main categories: protection of information, reporting, and regular checks. First of all, businesses and individuals should ensure that their private information is stored safely and that their accounts are protected with adequate passwords. For instance, companies should not share their employer identification number (EIN) and bank account numbers online to avoid identity theft. Secondly, any suspicious activity should be reported to a suitable organization, such as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), a credit reporting agency, and a bank (The United States Government, 2018). Also, bank accounts and credit cards used for the suspicious activity should be frozen immediately to avoid future use. Lastly, organizations and individuals alike should regularly review their credit reports and other financial documents at least once a year to ensure that there was no unauthorized activity.
The defense against identity theft has become a focus of many organizations in the past few years. As a result, credit monitoring services became more popular than before and are recommended for the prevention of identity theft by the IRS (2018). Another significant change that occurred in the past years is the increased concern with cybersecurity. Cyber attacks on organizations have become more common, and hence businesses began to review and improve their security procedures regularly. Besides, new software for preventing identity theft and information leaks is being developed, and many companies use it to stay safe.
Overall, identity theft is an important issue that requires reliable defense tools and mechanisms. Although new tools for protection against identity theft are being developed, they will likely remain a crucial concern for many people and organizations due to the development of cybercrime. Thus, it is vital to ensure adequate protection, monitoring, and reporting to avoid data leaks and identity theft.
References
The United States Government. (2018). Identity theft. Web.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS). (2018). Tax practitioner guide to business identity theft. Web.