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   What is Identity Theft?   
      
   Identity theft happens when a criminal steals information about you and uses   
   that information to commit fraud, such as requesting unemployment benefits,   
   tax refunds, or a new loan or credit card in your name. If you don't take   
   precautions, you may end up paying for products or services that you didn't   
   buy and dealing with the stress and financial heartache that follows identity   
   theft.   
      
   Your personal information exists in numerous places all over the internet.   
   Every time you browse or purchase something online, watch a video, buy   
   groceries, visit your doctor, or use an app on your smartphone, information   
   about you is being collected. That information is often legally sold or shared   
   with other companies. Even if just one of these gets hacked, the criminals can   
   gain access to your personal information. Assume that some information about   
   you is already available to criminals and consider what you can do to slow down   
   or detect the use of your information for fraud.   
      
   How to detect it   
      
    * Review your financial cards and other accounts regularly for any charges or   
      payments you did not make. An easy way to do this is to sign up for email,   
      text messages, or phone app notifications for payments and other   
      transactions. Monitor them for fraud.   
      
    * Investigate situations when merchants decline your credit or debit cards.   
      Look into letters or phone calls from debt collectors for overdue payments   
      for credit cards, medical bills, or loans that you know are not yours.   
      
    * Pay attention to letters that inform you about unemployment or other   
      government benefit claims for which you never applied.   
      
    * If available in your area, review your credit reports at least once a year.   
      For example, in the United States, you can request free reports from   
      annualcreditreport.com.   
      
   What to do when it happens   
      
    * Contact the organization that is involved in the fraud. For example, if a   
      criminal opened a credit card in your name, call that credit card company   
      to notify it about the fraud. If someone filed for a tax refund or   
      unemployment benefits in your name, contact the corresponding government   
      organization.   
      
    * File a report with law enforcement to create an official record of identity   
      theft. You can often do this online. For example, in the United States you   
      can report at identitytheft.gov. Follow the site's instructions for any   
      additional steps you may need to take.   
      
    * When responding to fraud, keep records of your interactions with your   
      financial institutions and law enforcement, as well as the costs you incur   
      due to identity theft in case these details will be needed later.   
      
    * Notify your insurance company; you may have identity theft protection   
      included in one of your policies.   
      
   How to defend against it   
      
   Here are some simple steps you can take to decrease the chance of identity   
   fraud happening:   
      
    * Limit how much information you share about yourself with online services   
      and websites.   
      
    * Use a unique strong password for all of your online accounts and enable   
      two-factor authentication as additional protection for your most important   
      accounts.   
      
    * If applicable in your location, restrict who can get access to your credit   
      reports. For example, in the United States freeze your credit score so that   
      anyone who tries to get a credit card or loan in your name has to first   
      temporarily unfreeze it.   
      
    * Consider getting insurance coverage, either through a dedicated policy or   
      as part of your existing insurance plan, that covers the costs of dealing   
      with identity theft.   
      
   Guest Editor Lenny Zeltser is the CISO at Axonius, a cybersecurity asset   
   management company. He also teaches malware combat and writing at the SANS   
   Institute. Lenny is active on Twitter as @lennyzeltser and writes a security   
   blog at zeltser.com.   
      
   OUCH! Is published by SANS Security Awareness and is distributed under the   
   Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. You are free to share or distribute   
   this newsletter as long as you do not sell or modify it.   
      
   (C) SANS Institute 2021   
   www.sans.org/security-awareness   
      
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