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Identity Theft Still A Major Issue

Identity theft is a major problem all over the world, and to increase this problem, there have been many new developments in Trojans and Spyware. Personal Computers are the ones that are more at risk as businesses use several layers of protection against these major intruders. The only way to eliminate identity theft and credit card fraud is to be sure to protect the home computer as well. The number of Spyware and Trojans that attempt to steal user names and passwords from a compromised computer increased drastically in 2005, with more and more focusing on online banking information. This is backed by findings of the various Anti Virus vendors that the trend continues to target smaller but specific groups rather than performing large scale phishing attempts.

This fact, together with the findings of the AOL/NCSA Online Safety Study in December 2005, that a horrific 81% of the home computers are lacking core protection, such as Antivirus or Spyware Protection, suggests that 2006 will be ill-fated. While the Security Improvements of the online banks are greatly appreciated e.g. the two factor authentication, it is becoming obvious that none of the deployed systems can be a general solution of the underlying problem. It just makes the task a bit harder for the bad guys. Bank of America?s new Sitekey Feature for example does a good job protecting against old-style Phishing Attempts, however sophisticated Trojans can easily circumvent this security measure by additionally stealing the information of the corresponding cookie ? which is an easy task to do.

This problem will only be solved by integrating the home user?s computer into the overall security chain to make sure that no malicious software is running during an online banking session. The recent Windows WMF vulnerability, the worst ever found on the Windows platform, proves that online banks and other online business providers can not assume that the home user?s computer is safe, in fact, they must assume the opposite. As a solution to this banking problem a new software, The Trust Defender Solution confirms to the user that they are genuinely connected to the banking site and confirms to the bank that the user?s computer is safe and secure and conforms to their security policies.