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Identity Theft

Almost 60 million Americans have been victims of identity theft according to a survey conducted by The Harris Poll. The survey also indicated that 15 million consumers were affected by identity theft in 2017. This numbers indicate that the problem is very common and it would be safe to say that it won’t be dropping soon due to data breaches. The most common cases of identity theft are as a result of data breaches where a company’s information which include the full names, social security numbers and other customer data is accessed fraudulently. It is crucial to understand that these data breaches have an impact on the theft of personal information. Theft Resources center publish summaries of data breaches happening in the United States.

The theft Resource center in 2017 recorded an all time high yet, with 1.579 data breaches, which allowed fraudulent access to more than 178 million records. Equifax, a major credit reporting organization was one of the biggest cases and attracted a lot of attention. The number of people affected by this was huge at 147.9 million with very significant information exposed (NortLifeLock). The information included, full names, addresses, dates of birth, social security numbers and in some cases driver’s license information.

The Justice system started with dealing with the lack of comprehensive data to understand and respond to the issue of identity theft. The response to the problem then became a multiagency problem with efforts by the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the office of justice programs among others. It is important to mention that Identity theft is however not the priority of the Federal Bureau of investigations but its Cyber Division’s criminal intrusion program, its current top priority is one of the frequent instances the FBI addresses the issue. Although it is relied upon as an investigation bureau, the FBI’s lack of data on identity theft makes it concerning that the agency is not equipped to deal with these issue and does not conduct mandatory comprehensive assessments of the threat of this crime.

The Department of Justice has no comprehensive strategy to fight the problem of identity theft and instead relies on the President’s Task Force Strategic Plan for all its components. There is no person or office designated to the efforts of the Department of Justice in the fight against identity theft. These lack of a specific entity coordinating these efforts has resulted in uncoordinated and even nonexistent efforts by agencies within the Department of Criminal Justice addressing identity theft.

Recommendations include additional leadership in the department that ensures that its overall efforts to combat this crime are coordinated and prioritized. The Department should coordinate its efforts on this issue by relying on a review of President’s Task Force’s plan and consulting relevant agencies involved in this fight.

The Dopartment of justice should then reaffirm that the Task Forces’s strategic plan is applicable to identity theft. Because of the sophistication of thiefs today, there should be investment in expertise and equipment that can be able to trace a breach or identify one before it happens. Identify theft is the work of tech gurus who require people that match their skills to stop them. The Department should not act like it accepts defeat against this war.

Works Cited

NortLifeLock. "How Common Is Identity Theft? (Updated 2018) The Latest Stats." LifeLock Official Site | Identity Theft Protection, 2019, www.lifelock.com/learn-identity-theft-resources-how-common-is-identity-theft.html.