Authorities need to protect students from cyber theft

Rana Harvey
Columnist

Asking students not to shop online is like telling children not to play on playgrounds. Many students live on the internet, so occasional shopping – or in some cases, perpetual indulging – is inevitable.

We’ve become so accustomed to functioning in the technology age that life’s joys sometimes seem to be only one click away.

But so are its mishaps. Cyber crime, in particular identity theft, is increasingly becoming the fastest growing crime in the world. A recent New York City identity-theft bust led authorities to a global crime ring of suspects who allegedly forged $13 million worth of credit cards and identity theft, leaving authorities baffled at the magnitude of cyber crime.

Suspects went on nationwide shopping sprees at the convenience of thousands of Americans and Europeans. Queens District Attorney Richard Brown has called this the largest and most sophisticated crime he has ever seen.

When asked what average Americans should do to protect themselves from identity thief, Brown told CNN “… not to shop online.” He continued his lack of admonition by assuring the public that he had also told his wife the same thing, as if simplistic solutions ever solved complex crises.

Brown’s advice is nothing short of conventional. He sees the direct link between online purchases and identity theft and makes the most basic assumption possible – that cyber-life is an option. What he doesn’t understand is that in this day and age, in which we’ve become so dependent on the Internet, technology simply cannot be ignored or disused, especially by students.

Because we are so dependent on the Internet, it would be unrealistic to expect us to abstain from online purchases. Online classes, clothes, textbooks and concert tickets are just some of the miscellaneous purchases students can indulge in at the wee hours of the night. Subsequently, our hectic schedules and lack of resources don’t always allow us to go out and make those kinds of purchases. Brown’s conventional wisdom doesn’t acknowledge the online presence we have to maintain. The proper solution for identity theft has to take these factors into consideration.

By the same token, it is assumed that identity thieves usually look for larger, more stable accounts to raid than most students are expected to have, but this is not always the case. In many instances, identity thieves have severely damaged credit or have recently filed for bankruptcy. They look for the untainted credit that many students flaunt. It would be naïve to think that just because our accounts are not very large, we are exempt from identity theft.

In essence, the convenience the Internet provides is insurmountable. It allows for information, resources and socializing to be done at any time you please; therefore occasional online purchases are standard for the lives we live online. Unfortunately, identity thieves and other cyber criminals are the consequence of such. Better technological solutions – like advancements in online security – need to be implemented. No longer can we provide limited solutions to the multifaceted problems we face today.