On June 27th, this last Tuesday, FBI agents arrested 26 hackers for identity theft and a number of different computer crimes according to Mashable article. This bust took the FBI two years to bust through an undercover operation called "Operation Card Shop." The process was simple. The police set up a fake credit card trading website called CarderProfit.cc. Criminals would come to the website and sell stolen card numbers, or attempt to buy some, while the FBI collected their data and tracked the thieves down. The FBI stated that the criminals were charged with exploiting credit cards and buying and selling stolen identities.
Identity theft is one of the newest and most high tech forms of theft in today's world. These types of crimes are becoming more prevalent and increasingly more difficult to capture. It is nice to see the FBI and other multinational organizations working together to combat these criminals on their own turf.
A decade ago cyber crime laws didn't exist. Now that is changing with thieves trading in their black masks for laptop computers. It is far easier to commit a crime inside your own home than risking your life robbing a bank.
The accessibility of this crime is a little scary at times. Now credit cards come with NFC chips that can be scanned from a passerby and all the users information will be sent through a simple email to their phone. It's so simple that some people don't realize the severity of the crime. People may scold someone from stealing a video game from a store, but is that any different from torrenting it on your home computer? It's this accessibility to crime and simplicity that is creating this new generation of cyber thieves.
You don't need to be a heavily built man to rob someone of their money. Now a skinny geek can do it without leaving his bedroom.
I am happy that the FBI is undertaking these new cyber operations to stop online identity thieves. I'm especially relieved that they are working with other nations, from 4 continents according to the article, to stop this. With digital thefts there are no boarders. Maybe when banks are more secure with their digital funds, or consumers are just more mindful of their passwords and money, will we see less of a need for these extreme cyber stakeouts.
Before this day however I always choose complicated strings of numbers and symbols on my passwords and never give out too much information about myself online. Even with just a surname and a place of birth, a thief can crack a password with little effort. Even restricting the amount of information that is displayed on social networking sites like Facebook can leak a little too much information about you. And you will have no one to blame but yourself for this. In the end it's all about keeping your privacy and controlling what information is public about yourself. It only takes a few simple steps to keep your identity safe, and your money in your pocket.
Identity theft is one of the newest and most high tech forms of theft in today's world. These types of crimes are becoming more prevalent and increasingly more difficult to capture. It is nice to see the FBI and other multinational organizations working together to combat these criminals on their own turf.
A decade ago cyber crime laws didn't exist. Now that is changing with thieves trading in their black masks for laptop computers. It is far easier to commit a crime inside your own home than risking your life robbing a bank.
The accessibility of this crime is a little scary at times. Now credit cards come with NFC chips that can be scanned from a passerby and all the users information will be sent through a simple email to their phone. It's so simple that some people don't realize the severity of the crime. People may scold someone from stealing a video game from a store, but is that any different from torrenting it on your home computer? It's this accessibility to crime and simplicity that is creating this new generation of cyber thieves.
You don't need to be a heavily built man to rob someone of their money. Now a skinny geek can do it without leaving his bedroom.
I am happy that the FBI is undertaking these new cyber operations to stop online identity thieves. I'm especially relieved that they are working with other nations, from 4 continents according to the article, to stop this. With digital thefts there are no boarders. Maybe when banks are more secure with their digital funds, or consumers are just more mindful of their passwords and money, will we see less of a need for these extreme cyber stakeouts.
Before this day however I always choose complicated strings of numbers and symbols on my passwords and never give out too much information about myself online. Even with just a surname and a place of birth, a thief can crack a password with little effort. Even restricting the amount of information that is displayed on social networking sites like Facebook can leak a little too much information about you. And you will have no one to blame but yourself for this. In the end it's all about keeping your privacy and controlling what information is public about yourself. It only takes a few simple steps to keep your identity safe, and your money in your pocket.
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