MADISON, Wis. -- A new report shines a light on just why identity fraud is so pervasive.
The study, Combating Identity Theft: Leading Practices for Credit Unions finds that more effort should be directed to verifying at the point of service that those receiving financial benefits are really who they claim to be.
Because of the challenges credit unions face in battling identity theft, the study was conducted to clarify the nature of identity theft and classify countermeasures in the credit union environment.
Research was conducted by the University of Wisconsin E-Business Consortium and sponsored by CUNA Mutual Group, CUNA, and the Credit Union Information Security Professionals Association.
"Sensitive personal information is difficult to protect, and the technology needed to protect that information with a high degree of confidence can be complex and expensive," said Dr. Steve Arnold, researcher and consultant with UWEBC who led the study. "There are many legacy systems that are difficult to update with new protection techniques. In addition, the business itself depends on fast and easy access to sensitive personal information for optimum service, which creates a counter demand to privacy protection within the organization."
The free research report is available online at www.UWEBC.org.
Identity theft has become an increasing problem and concern for companies and consumers across the country, with some 10 million people falling victim to identity theft annually. In the U.S. in 2006, $56.6 billion were stolen through identity theft, with an average fraud per victim of $6,278. Much of these losses are covered by businesses.
--mdigiovanni@cutimes.com
