A security researcher has concluded that online identity theft remains a critical threat.

David Porter, head of security and risk at Detica, explained that there was only so much that experts and computer systems can do to prevent identity fraud. According to Porter, final responsibility rests with the consumer.

"Identity fraud attacks succeed largely because of human fallibility; however there are simple steps that people can take to avoid being caught out by fraudsters," said Porter.

Porter also noted that internet surfers need to be more guarded about their behaviour and realise that personal information posted on social networking sites could be "accessed and used by fraudsters."

J Prasanna, CEO of AVS Labs, told IT Examiner that users without an updated antivirus database and personal firewall were susceptible to Trojan key loggers that intercepted usernames and passwords. Prasanna also recommended installing Key Scrambler to encrypt every keystroke.

A number of high-level hacking threats have been highlighted by the Indian press over the past few months.  

In September, the Economic Times reported that an unidentified Indian hacker had helped the Russian mafia steal the identities of nearly eight million people from the UK's Best Western Hotel website. Another article warned against the dangers of wardrivers, which are utilised by roving individuals to identify unprotected Wifi networks. X

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