This week, Richard is joined by Eva Velasquez. Eva is the President and CEO of the Identity Theft Resource Center, a nonprofit organization established to support victims of identity and cybercrimes. Eva discusses where she sees the biggest problems in identity theft today as well as the long-term and domino effects it has on both the victims and essentially all of us.

Key Takeaways:

[1:19] There is no such thing as a victimless crime when it comes to identity theft and fraud.

[2:29] The Identity Theft Resource Center has been a nonprofit victim services organization for 20 years. They offer free and comprehensive services to victims of identity theft.

[4:10] The process for victims to be made whole is inherently failed. They are often left both financially and emotionally damaged.

[6:01] This year, 10% of people reported feeling suicidal due to identity crimes.

[7:20] Richard has a very strong attachment and reaction to the way corporations handle identities due to the emotional harm caused when his wife passed away.

[9:03] The problem with having all of this information harvested about our identities and then having that data poorly managed, is that it never goes away.

[10:10] The more data we add to the identity verification and authentication process, the more we increase our risk.

[11:11] Identity crimes can have long-term and lifetime effects; even children are at risk.

[15:22] Historically, the risks and consequences from companies aggregating data on our identities, fall back onto the individual. Some will even capitalize on fixing their mistakes.

[17:19] There’s an immediate need for organizations to be more responsible in managing identity. Eva wants the government to step it up, as this area accounts for the biggest losses.

[22:09] The massive and long-term consequences of widespread unemployment benefits fraud; especially during the pandemic.

[30:23] People should have the right to be able to confirm that they are who they say they are; we have this in person but not when it comes to digital identity. The solution needs to fall more on corporations and government, and not on the individual user.

Quotes:

• “Just because a bank makes you whole because of a fraud committed against your account, doesn’t mean that it was victimless.”

• “There’s a person behind every single one of those data points and those fraud rates, and they need to have a voice.”

• “When you look at how we use identity credentials and how we use them in authentication and verification, it is so pervasive now.”

• “It’s only within the extreme examples that we see all the true fractures and breaks in the process that caused these types of things.”

• “Right now the single biggest problem that we’re looking at, with the fraud losses in the billions, is through government benefits.”

• “These are real costs, these are real consequences to human lives.”

• “A human being should have the right to be able to confirm that they are who they say they are.”

• “The first step in solving any problem is identifying that you have one.”

Mentioned in This Episode:

Identity Theft Resource Center

Ping Identity