Identity Theft in Digitization | Antivirus Software

Imagine you pick up the post after breakfast and find various invoices and reminders for things that you have never ordered. This is a classic case of identity theft, in which criminals buy products on their behalf.

Many of these scenarios, which we know from the analog world, often work more easily online. People voluntarily disclose large amounts of personal data. This happens via social media platforms, on which it is publicly shared, "liked" and forwarded. So today it has become easy to collect the necessary information so that you can successfully impersonate someone else.

The Cybersecurity Aspect
I know what your birthday is from your Facebook account, Instagram shows me where you were last on vacation and Twitter tells me what your political attitudes are. But not only do personal accounts reveal a lot, but there is also a lot of exciting information on company websites with employee profiles. For example, their role shows what rights and powers they might have in their company.

This research is also called Open Source Intelligence, or OSINT for short, and is part of social engineering. One tries to get to company data by manipulating employees. The goal is to gain access to the company's internal network. OSINT helps to pose as an IT supporter and to convince an employee to give the attacker access to his device. There are also simpler attack scenarios, such as an email from the CEO who would like to initiate a payment.

The Personal Aspect It
becomes much more dangerous when the attacker has effective access to your data. Short mind game: How many accounts would an attacker have access to if he had the password of your email account? Also, consider where he could reset the passwords if you are using several as an example.
How much damage can he cause if he has access to e-banking, Facebook, Instagram or other accounts?

Such login data are currently being sold on a large scale. If you want to test your email address, is the ' have I been pwned? 'a good start. Unfortunately, there is not much that can be done as a user against these publications. The best protection, apart from not having an account at all, is so-called two-factor authentication. Many people know this from e-banking, which still requires a code via SMS or photo to register. But many social media websites also offer such methods.

What Can You Do About It?
One solution would be not to make the information public. Even if this is a good approach and everyone should handle their data very carefully, it only helps to a limited extent in the long term. The information can still be found.  Much can be achieved through your own behavior and common sense. Always be critical if someone contacts you. It is best to ask again about a second way. Similar to two-factor authentication, you can contact people via other channels. This can be a WhatsApp message, by phone or, best of all, in person.

A Few Principles for It Support at First Frame Networkers
It can also happen that our identity is misused. So here are a few rules for our support services: We'll ...

• Never ask for their passwords, either on the phone or by email.
• never ask for remote access to server systems.
• never ask for remote access to your client system without a reference to a ticket you opened in advance.

If you are unsure whether the call from first frame networkers is legitimate, you can call back at any time. Either to already known people or via our back office. 

Protect your data from identity theft by installing antivirus software.