Thanks to lame online security measures, stealing an individual's identity is like taking candy from a baby, said reformed hacker Kevin Mitnick. Passwords, user names and other data used by financial institutions and utility companies to verify identity, such as an . . .
Thanks to lame online security measures, stealing an individual's identity is like taking candy from a baby, said reformed hacker Kevin Mitnick. Passwords, user names and other data used by financial institutions and utility companies to verify identity, such as an account holder's Social Security number, driver's license information and mother's maiden name, are readily accessible in myriad databases on the Web, Mitnick said in a column written for SecurityFocus.com.

"Numerous governmental and private organizations keep our so-called 'private' information in widely accessible databases, and many opportunities exist for identity thieves to obtain it," Mitnick writes. "Thanks to the World Wide Web, and its plethora of databases, search engines and public records, getting this information is now easier than ever."

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