Members of Generation Y tend to be prone to identity theft. Anyone aged 18 to 24 today attracts identity thieves the most, according to Javelin Research and Strategy. This age group likely has untainted credit records, surefire tools for thieves to take out loans.

Since 2005, around 100 American universities and colleges have reported security compromises, according to Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. Indeed, these places offer a treasure trove for thieves, who could use something as trivial as report cards to strike gold.

Identity thieves are often a step ahead of everyone, even for young people’s technological know-how. So it always pays to regularly upgrade the computer’s security and anti-virus capabilities. Many computers have locking features that ask for passwords from uninvited users.

Similarly, students shouldn’t be fooled by phishing, pre-texting and similar deceptions by tech-savvy thieves. Granted, identity scams have grown more sophisticated than last time. Often they pose as websites and emails of lawful organizations, asking for sensitive data. The trick is to look for URLs beginning with https://. They indicate a secured connection.

For all their technological advances however, identity cons know better than to ignore a classic: the rummaging-for-papers-in-trash-cans technique. Therefore, papers containing names, addresses, and social security numbers should be chucked properly ASAP. If one couldn’t rip papers apart long enough for them to be indecipherable, a good paper shredder is in order. Student affairs offices easily have one.

However, credit card-toting college students need to religiously check their statements first before destroying them. Credit monitoring services can help warn account holders of identity thefts in progress.

For anything that requires a password, students should create a strong one, in that it couldn’t be easily guessed. A good password can be a combination of characters and digits. Either way, no student should divulge his/her passwords and PIN numbers to others.

Affinion Security Center has compiled these tips from years of experience tackling cases of identity theft in colleges. An international leader in identity theft protection services, Affinion Security Center is a member of the Staples Security Council and the Identity Theft Prevention and Identity Management Standards Panel steering committee.

Post Author: guest

This entry was posted on Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 5:43 pm and is filed under Corporate News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.