"True identity theft is a problem that goes far beyond simple credit-card fraud, against which consumers are fully protected, thanks to zero-liability laws and other regulations," says Dave Collett, a spokesperson for MasterCard. "ID theft is when a person's entire identity is taken over. For that to happen, a fraudster would need far more information than just what is found on a credit or debit card."

All too often, consumers provide that needed information unknowingly through careless Web surfing and by using computers whose security is breached by virus and spyware infections.

One of the leading causes of identity theft online is consumers falling prey to phishing attacks, a form of identity theft that employs a criminal strategy that security professionals call social engineering. Essentially, the process works by tricking e-mail recipients into going to phony Web sites to divulge personal data, like bank-account numbers or credit-card information. Identity thieves also use technical subterfuge through spyware and Trojans to capture user names and passwords so they can gain access to consumers' financial details.

While many consumers have placed a great deal of faith in their antivirus or antispam software, industry experts say that security applications, for the most part, are not bulletproof as a method for fighting identity thieves. Rather, the software serves mainly to eliminate most major phishing and Trojan threats and works best only in combination with user awareness of increasingly sophisticated social-engineering tactics.

Avoid Suspicious Attachments

It might seem obvious, but you must be doubly cautious about opening e-mail attachments, which serve as one of the most common vehicles for Trojan horse programs, the worst kind of malware. Just because you recognize the e-mail sender as a family member, friend, or business associate does not make the attachments safe to open. The e-mail might have been sent from a friend's computer that had been infected with a Trojan-bearing worm.

Network worms, which are arguably the most dangerous of all virus types, jump from one machine to another, spreading around the Internet and leaving infected computers in their wakes. Some network worms do not require any kind of user intervention to spread. They secretly scour the Internet for connected computers that do not have current security updates or firewalls installed. (continued...)

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