US Backup Systems

Identity Theft is Usually an Unsophisticated Crime

I have written before about the "threats" of identity theft. Know-nothing politicians and bureaucrats often try to restrict access to public domain records and online databases with an excuse that restricting such access will somehow reduce identity theft. Sadly, that does little good.

A recent research report by Heith Copes of the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Lynne Vieraitis of the University of Texas at Austin has proven the point. The two examined identity thieves and their methods. Copes and Vieraitis searched federal court records in the US for people convicted of identity theft and then interviewed the thieves. They were able to find 297 inmates, from which they sampled 59 inmates in 14 prisons across the country. The convicts agreed to do detailed interviews, in private, to talk about themselves and their crimes. I would suggest the results should be studied by every politician and bureaucrat.

Free Anti-Virus Program from Microsoft

I have written before about free anti-virus programs. Now a new program is available from a company that knows quite a bit about Windows' security problems: Microsoft.

Every Windows computer needs to have an anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-rootkit, and anti-Trojan program installed. You can find several to choose from at your local computer store for perhaps $20 to $60 or so. However, knowledgeable computer users have successfully used free anti-virus programs for years.

Note: While all the free anti-virus programs do seem to protect against viruses, not all of them protect against the other problems: spyware, rootkits, and Trojans. The new program from Microsoft claims to protect against all of those.