Discover a Better Way

Safeguarding Your Identity

Why this should Matter to YOU?

Affecting more than 42 million adults in the US alone in 2021, Identity Theft is a major and growing problem globally, affecting individuals, businesses, and governments.

“Identity Theft is a huge problem affecting millions…”

Identity Theft can cause serious financial, emotional, and legal problems. Victims may face unauthorized transactions, damaged credit scores, and costly recovery efforts. It creates stress, anxiety, and a sense of violation, while also disrupting access to services, benefits, or employment.

Identity theft affects families, especially children and seniors, and undermines trust in institutions. Ultimately, it strips people of privacy, control over personal information, and confidence in a digital world, making protection against it essential.

Securing Your Identity in a Digital World should not be by good luck…

Some sobering facts illustrate the scale of the issue;

1. Prevalence of Identity Theft

Global Reach: Identity theft affects millions of people every year across the globe. In the U.S. alone, 42 million adults reported identity theft in 2021, resulting in $52 billion in damages.
Types of Identity Theft: Common types include financial fraud, medical identity theft, tax-related fraud, and synthetic identity theft (creating a false identity using real and fake information).
Global Growth: Identity theft is a major and growing problem globally, affecting individuals, businesses, and governments.
Online Impact: The rise of digital services has made personal data more accessible to cybercriminals. Phishing attacks, data breaches, and social engineering are key entry points.

2. Economic Cost

Direct Financial Loss: Victims of identity theft suffer direct financial losses, often amounting to thousands of dollars per case.
Recovery Costs: Victims spend time and money repairing their credit, restoring accounts, and addressing legal implications.
Business Impact: For businesses, identity fraud increases operational costs, leads to customer distrust, and can result in regulatory fines.

3. Data Breaches

A significant driver of identity theft is data breaches. In 2023, there were over 2,200 publicly reported breaches in the U.S., exposing more than 422 million individuals’ data.
Sensitive Information Exposed: Breached data often includes Social Security numbers, credit card details, medical records, and login credentials.

4. Vulnerable Groups

Seniors, children, and immigrants are particularly vulnerable to identity theft, often due to their lack of experience with digital security or their reliance on shared systems.
Children’s Identity Theft: Criminals steal children’s identities to create fraudulent accounts because these are often not monitored.

5. Government and Policy Challenges

Governments face difficulty securing citizens’ data, especially as reliance on digital platforms grows.
Social safety nets, such as unemployment or welfare systems, are common targets of identity theft schemes.

6. Trends and Emerging Risks

AI and Deepfakes: Sophisticated tools like AI are enabling new methods of fraud, including the generation of fake identities.
Mobile and Cloud Services: Increased use of mobile apps and cloud services has expanded attack surfaces.
Dark Web Markets: Stolen identities and credentials are widely traded on the dark web, fueling the problem.

What is the root cause of this growing problem?

The core issue is the increasing necessity for business compliance via digital means, and the lack of secure and user-controlled identity systems.

Current methods rely heavily on distributed private databases and static information that can be stolen, copied, or manipulated. This being a system where once data is compromised, it can be reused repeatedly for fraud, leaving citizens and institutions vulnerable.

What can we do about it?

Implementing innovative policies and solutions that minimize the need to share our sensitive information, while maintaining convenience and compliance requirements is the answer.