Identity is a hot commodity in underground digital circles. Some cyber crooks steal millions of them to make a quick buck. Others tap into specific ones, milking their owners’ current and future finances or otherwise making their lives a living hell.
The news is constantly abuzz with stories of hackers that get away with a metropolis-sized amount of personal information. But how do they do it, and what can you do not to become part of the next round of statistics? Here’s what you need to know.
The Most Common Methods
Several methods remain the staples of digital identity theft. They evolve in complexity, especially now that everyone has access to generative AI. Still, the basics remain the same.
Phishing
Phishing is among the most successful and notorious Identity theft methods. Carefully crafted emails are the preferred delivery method. They’ll usually point out some discrepancy or problem, prompting the recipient to take action. Phishing emails contain either links to malicious websites or malware itself.
Victims who follow the links arrive at convincing websites designed to capture their information. Depending on the target, this can be a simple reset form to expose individual user accounts or an elaborate site designed to trick high-ranking business and bank employees into entering their credentials.
Malware
Malware is short for malicious software – code that can harm the devices it infects in various ways. People get malware by visiting infected websites, opening attachments, and clicking on malware ads masquerading as real ones.
There are many different approaches to identity theft through malware. For example, keyloggers record keystrokes and send them back for analysis. Other variants can infect internet browsers and steal saved login details. Or, they establish remote access that lets hackers search victims’ devices manually.
Social Engineering
Social engineering refers to a broad array of shady practices hackers use to trick people into giving up sensitive information. Phishing falls under social engineering, yet it’s only a subset of a much bigger problem.
Hackers’ creativity knows no bounds when coaxing valuable info from you. They may try the authority route, pretending to be a financial institution or influencer and persuading you that way. Or, they can collect publicly available data on individuals to create a convincing story that lets them get closer to the victim and extract sensitive information organically.
Other social engineering methods prey on people’s boredom or gullibility. For example, various quizzes posted on social media fish for information like answers to security questions or hide their results behind elaborate sign-up forms. Inventing problems like false virus infections and offering to fix them in exchange for personal information is also popular and effective.
Data Breaches
Ideally, hackers’ attempts culminate in data breaches. For example, the most successful phishing attempts grant hackers high-level access to business networks. These stores customer databases that may contain everything from login details through real names and addresses to payment and credit card information.
The largest breaches put the data of millions of customers at risk. Those responsible for these breaches rarely engage in identity theft themselves. It makes more sense for them to sell the data on the dark web to criminals specializing in identity theft or financial fraud.
How Can You Prevent Identity Theft?
The best way to protect one’s identity online is to expose it as little as possible. You can start by switching your social media accounts to private and deleting the ones you don’t use anymore. Carefully consider whether signing up for services or shopping at new digital stores is worth creating more accounts. If you believe it is, keep the information you disclose to a minimum.
Maintaining a low profile online is tricky even if you only use aliases since merely browsing accumulates a lot of info about you. Advertisers, ISPs, or hackers who monitor networks you connect to can infer much about your identity through your interaction with various apps and websites.
Achieving anonymity is easiest if you install a reputable VPN app on all your devices. VPNs can mask your IP address, making it look like your traffic is actually originating from a server in some distant country. This prevents advertisers and snoops from picking up on and exploiting your browsing patterns.
Moreover, VPNs add much-needed security to vulnerable networks like public Wi-Fi. They encrypt your connection, obscuring any data you transfer or payments you make from anyone who might be monitoring the network.
You can’t predict data breaches, but you can ensure they don’t put your accounts at risk. Best password managers can supply and keep unique passwords safe for all your accounts, preventing credential-stuffing attacks. Additionally, two-factor authentication stops breached accounts from being taken over when crooks try to access them from unknown locations.
Adjusting your mindset to share as little as possible helps you from becoming a more tempting target. However, the digital footprint you developed over years of more open activity remains. There’s little you can do about it alone, especially since tracking down and petitioning every online entity that might hold some info on you is time-consuming and inefficient.
Hiring a data removal service makes more sense. They specialize in reaching out to data brokers, people-finder sites, and others who profit by collecting and selling personal information. Such services handle opt-out and data removal requests thoroughly and efficiently, resulting in a marked reduction in the amount of personal data available for identity thieves to exploit.
Conclusion
Identity theft is a long-standing and evolving cybersecurity concern. It will remain one, especially now that generative AI and other cutting-edge technologies are helping hackers fool us more convincingly. Remaining vigilant and giving them as little material to work with will keep you safe, though.
