The basic notion of "Identity Theft" is a fiction invented by companies who use lax controls to protect their customer's assets. This hilarious Mitchell and Wade routine illustrates quite well that it all depends on which perspective you look at it (Customer: "well that's good you still have all my money, its just my identity that's been stolen"). Imagine an access control scheme that relied on a "secret" like a Social Security Number that 100,000 other people already know. That plus firewalls and SSL is what "protects" your assets, financial and otherwise. When it fails, the companies simply claim it was identity theft and assign responsibility to the customer who can't do anything about the security of the bank systems in the first place.
I am surprised this has worked as long as it has, but the milk is long past its sell by date, and things are starting to turn. Bruce Schneier has the story on a couple who had $26,500 stolen out of their account all because the attacker used their username and password. No big story here, happens all the time, but here's the difference - the couple is suing the bank over failing to protect their account. It will be interesting to watch and it won't be the last time we see this movie.
Fyi, when you have old milk in your fridge your time is better spent throwing it out and getting new milk rather than trying to salvage the spoiled milk.
Comments