Identity Theft Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Identity Theft - Essay Example This is the first step in maintaining a secured computer system. Having an open connection to the Internet simply invites trouble. What Dr. Palmer suggest, and most companies to date follow is making sure computers on both sides have a secure tunnel or VPN (Virtual Private Network) connection that can only be initiated from a specific computer with specific programs to negotiate the connection. Without these programs in place, it is much more difficult to breach the system.Other types of breaches can occur as well. There are also instances of backup tapes being misplaced, stolen or even sold by employees. Laptops being left in cabs with confidential information on them, even though company policy forbids it and many other areas of concern. Non-profit consumer rights and advocacy organization have begun to track these breaches. The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse has data since 2005 tracking various types of security breaches. A very brief sampling compilation can be found in Appendix I of the hundreds of breaches affecting up to possible 234 million data records during that time period.One such data breach was discovered in Louisiana by a student googling the internet. The Company tried to keep it under wraps but the story was picked up by a local Television station there, WDSU. Aaron Titus, a law school student and privacy advocate, said he found the open door to the Board of Regents internal network using Google. Not only did he find the database of student names.