The number of Americans affected by identity fraud increased by 22 per cent to 9.9 million in 2008. 

According to Javelin Strategy & Research, the total annual fraud amount rose seven per cent to a staggering $48 billion. Nevertheless, the mean consumer costs of identity fraud plummeted by 31 percent to $496 per incident. 

"Javelin's 2009 Identity Fraud Report highlights that fraud is increasing but it is being caught more quickly; consumer costs are declining; and crimes of opportunity, such as information from lost wallets, still comprise the vast majority of incidents," said Javelin president James Van Dyke. "The good news is research shows consumers have more control than they may think and more of them are actively taking steps to protect themselves. Additionally, the financial industry has made significant strides to resolve fraud incidents for their customers and put stronger controls in place to limit fraud, which is lessening the impact of this crime."

David Porter, head of security and risk at Detica, explained that there was only so much that experts and computer systems could 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," added Porter.

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 QFX Keyscrambler to encrypt every keystroke.

"One of the common ways for hackers to gain access to confidential and valuable business information is to compromise a less critical, less-guarded workstation and install a keylogger to capture credentials that will enable them to access more heavily secured parts of the business infrastructure," said Qian Z. Wang, CEO of QFX Software. X

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