Show Abstract
Identity theft and related threats are increasingly common occurrences in today’s world. Developing tools to help understand and counter these threats is vitally important. This paper discusses some noteworthy results obtained by our Identity Threat Assessment and Prediction (ITAP) project. We use news stories to gather raw data about incidents of identity theft, fraud, abuse, and exposure. Through these news stories, we seek to determine the methods and resources actually used to carry out these crimes; the vulnerabilities that were exploited; as well as the consequences of these incidents for the individual victims, for the organizations affected, and for the perpetrators themselves. The ITAP Model is a large and continually growing, structured repository of such information. There are currently more than 5,000 incidents captured in the model. To this body of information we apply a variety of analytical tools, collectively known as the ITAP Dashboard, that enable us to show and compare threats, losses, and trends in the identity landscape. From this analysis, we discovered notable and sometimes surprising results. A goal of this project is to be able to predict future threats, and to provide some concrete guidance for consumers, businesses, and government agencies on how to avoid them or lessen their impact.
Access Publication: Download PDF of Report