1. Why cant cyber crimes and cyber criminal be stopped? Discuss the possible threats to identity theft. How do we prevent such attack? (You may want to refer to the video above)

          Cyber crime is described as criminal activity in which computer and network are involved as part of the crime.  The main reason why cyber crime or cyber criminal cannot be stop is because of the wide internet connection. It is estimated that everyone has a computer and is internet connected. This has been made easy for cyber crimes to attack their target anytime and anywhere as they randomly pick their target to carry out their activity.

          Furthermore, there are alot of cyber cafe. These cyber cafes are not guarded. As long as you have paid for the fees, you are allowed to use the computer freely. Meaning that you are in your own internet world and nobody cares what are you doing. There are no rules or regulations or Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) to control the user’s activities. That is why cyber crimes or cyber criminals cannot be stopped.

          Identity theft happens regularly thet the Federal Bureau of Investigation regard it as ‘America fastest growing crime’. Identity theft is describe as the act of obtaining other people’s personal or financial information for their own porpose. The consequence of having identity stolen is, the victim of identity theft will have problems dealing with official transactions. This is because there are two persons using the exactly same identity. Police and investigators will have to hold on to the victim’s identity while they are trying to solve this case. Business transcation will be put on hold and the victim is not allowed to do anything without clarification from officers that the identity belong to his/hers.

          Besides that, a person may be charge for all activities or offences he/she has never attempted before. Some identity thief might use the owner’s identity to apply for a loan. Once they got the money, they change to another identity to escape the debt. The only thing they left behind is a large amount of debt for the original identity owner to repay the bank.

          First and foremost, to prevent identity theft is by protecting your deceased relative. This may sound less important but infact, this is the easiest way for an identity to be stolen. When your loves one passed away, it is advisable to obtain copies of the official death certificate to notify credit card company, financial instituition, insurance company and others. If one may have a joined account with the deceased, remember to remove the deceased name from the account as soon as possible.

          The second step towards preventing such attack is, one must learn and know how and where the thief gets your private details. This is to avoid from being attack on your financial account and identification. For example, phishing is the most frequently used method by identity thief. Phishers create websites that looks 100% alike the site of a legitimate enterprise. They send emails to the company’s customers hoping that they will key in their personal data. This has once happened to Maybank. Bank like First Hawaiian Bank do provide security alert to their customers.

          In a nutshell, in order to protect ourselves, everyone must be alert, aware, careful and knowledgeable about the surroundings 24/7.