COMMENTARY:
President Barack Obama named Melissa Hathaway to lead a major review of this nation's cybersecurity. Her selection reflects the administration's desire to protect the government's information technology systems from security threats.
The General Accounting Office characterized the government's computer system as a "high risk" area. This was underscored when the Federal Aviation Administration recently admitted its computer system was "hacked" and that the 48 files breached contained the names and Social Security numbers of more than 45,000 employees.
While it is critical that the government's information networks be protected from terrorists and hackers alike, it is equally important that the administration's review also focus on ways to better protect every American's digital identities, especially when they use credit cards or the Internet.
Digital identity misuse or theft leaves victims exposed to fraud that could lead to physical, emotional and financial harm. People from all walks of life have been victimized with those least able to absorb the punishment among the hardest hit.
A recent survey by Jupiter Research concluded a total of 10 million Americans were victims of identity fraud in 2008, at an average cost of $496. Of these, 19 percent were defrauded while conducting online transactions.
Millions of other Americans have suffered financial losses when their credit cards have been compromised. In addition, thousands of merchants have lost merchandise or funds when credit cards have been misused or stolen cards presented to make a purchase. Online merchants lost more than $10 billion in 2007 due to identity fraud.
The misuse of prepaid cards presents yet another massive problem. Millions of stored value cards (gift cards, payroll cards, prepaid cards) have no Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. protection when they are stolen and thus thieves can spend them as easily as cash, depleting the true owner of their hard-earned savings.
Most Americans do not realize that debit cards, which often carry the insignia of a credit card, do not offer the same protection as regular credit cards, and may only learn this when the cards are stolen.
Unfortunately, the dangers go far beyond potential financial loses. A recently well-publicized case involved a 14-year-old girl who committed suicide when an adult pretended to be a boy on MySpace and then dumped her in a degrading way.
