Identity Theft: What’s in a Name?

Nine major U.S. retailers were victims of the theft including TJX Companies, BJ’s Wholesale Club, OfficeMax, Boston Market, Barnes & Noble, Sports Authority, Forever 21 and DSW.

Mukasey told a press conference that the suspects “used sophisticated computer hacking techniques that would allow them to breach security systems and install programs that gathered enormous quantities of personal financial data, which they then allegedly either sold to others or used themselves.”

These alleged technology bandits used a technique called “war driving” in which thieves cruise through retail neighborhoods looking for stores with accessible wireless Internet signals. When they locate one, they install “sniffer programs” to steal credit and debit card numbers from the store’s processing network.

U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Michael J. Sullivan commented, “While technology has made our lives much easier it has also created new vulnerabilities. This case clearly shows how strokes on a keyboard with a criminal purpose can have costly results.”

According to the FBI, identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in the United States—it claims more than 10 million victims a year, and this number is expected to rise. Identity theft was the number one consumer complaint in the United States last year, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

It’s a crime that can have a devastating impact on a person’s finances, credit standing, time, emotions and reputation. There is no federal agency tasked with sorting out the victim from the thief when an identity is stolen. A victim is responsible to pay all incurred debt until it is proven that ID theft has occurred.

While it is important to do everything possible to avoid falling victim to this ever-present crime, it also seems natural to wonder why we are forced to take such measures.

What Is the Underlying Cause?

Why should technology make us “vulnerable”? Is there a fundamental weakness in the design and engineering of systems that transfer computer information?

Is the solution to technological theft simply to create more advanced technological security? While such action must obviously be taken, the unfortunate fact is that this treats only the symptoms rather than the cause.

Computer technology has provided us with an array of benefits to make communication and business transactions easy and efficient. Yet, because of the actions of a few, the rest of us must battle this same technology to protect ourselves.

A fundamental value of all decent society is the right to the protection of personal property, and one’s reputation and good name is the most valuable aspect of that property. These words from Shakespeare’s Othello ring with truth:

Who steals my purse steals trash; ’tis something, nothing;
’Twas mine, ’tis his, and has been slave to thousands;
But he that filches from me my good name
Robs me of that which not enriches him,
And makes me poor indeed.

Most religions espouse some form of the concept of dealing with others ethically and considerately. In particular, the Old Testament—the foundation of what is considered the Judeo Christian ethic—tells would-be thieves: “You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another” (Leviticus 19:11). There is also the precept “You shall not covet” (Exodus 20:17)—that is, desire something that lawfully belongs to someone else.

Many people simply don’t want to live by these principles, and as long as this is true ID theft will not be eradicated, no matter how far technology advances. Plainly, the cause of ID theft does not lie in the technology itself but in the hearts of the men and women who misuse it.

It is therefore left to those who do live by honorable principles to exercise wisdom and good judgment in protecting sensitive personal information. As another biblical concept puts it, those who find themselves “sheep in the midst of wolves,” must be “wise as serpents” even while they are “innocent as doves.”