1 in 10 Canadians hit with ID theft, we need Privacy 2.0

About 10 percent of Canadians who shop online report being victims of identity theft, a survey published Wednesday said.
The Canadian Anti-Fraud Call Center, which is operated by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, says Canadians this year have reported 8,048 cases of identity theft, with $7.3 million in losses, the Canwest News Service reported.

Though online merchants and payment clearing houses claim they do all they can to prevent fraud, their efforts are easily circumventable with someone who has just a few pieces of information about their customer.

ID thieves hack into unsecure networks, obtain personal information, and then easily obtain access to even more systems with the information they stole. In order to put a stop to this problem, a new way of thinking needs to emerge.

Authentication should no longer rely on personal information that a person may hold, but rather something else, a physical token, or some other for of information thats used solely for the purpose of validating one’s identity.

That way your social security number is only important to the IRS, your drivers license number is only important to your state and your mother’s maiden name is only important to your mother.