Glossary of Terms |
We've compiled this glossary to define common terms concerning identity theft and online crimes.
Identity fraud occurs when one of more piece of an individual's personal information is used as a basis to create a profile for a nonexistent person.
Identity theft occurs when somebody steals your name and other personal information, such as a social security number, driver's license number, and/or usernames and passwords, for fraudulent purposes, assuming your identity.
Pharming is a scheme whereby criminal hackers redirect Internet traffic from one Web site to a different, identical-looking site in order to trick you into entering your username and password into the database on their fake site. Unbeknownst to you, these hackers have hijacked your computer into going to the fake site or hijacked the DNS server on your intended site.
Phishing is the latest technique in identity theft. Scam artists send emails that contain links to malicious web sites to obtain personal information. The computer user follows the link, which directs them to a Web site that is designed to capture your personal information. According to the FBI, phishing has become the leading type of Internet-based fraud with financial institutions accounting for approximately 90% of all phishing attacks.
Malware, short for malicious software, is an umbrella term for any harmful software to a computer user. Malware includes computer viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and also spyware, programming that gathers information about a computer user without permission.
Keystroke logging (also known as keylogging) is a diagnostic tool used in software development that captures the user's keystrokes. Keylogging can be useful. For instance, it is sometimes to measure employee productivity on certain clerical tasks or for law enforcement. However keylogging is also used by individuals to spy on computers by providing a means to obtain passwords or encryption keys. Unfortunately, keyloggers are widely available on the Internet.
Single-factor authentication describes username and password sign in systems and relies on something you know. If someone types in the correct username and password, access is granted to the account. Financial institutions have long known that single-factor authentication is difficult to keep 100% secure.
Smart cards contain an embedded microchip, called a "smart card chip", that can contain much more information than a magnetic strip and can be programmed. Commonly used in Europe for electronic transactions, smart cards generally contain some form of security system.
Spyware is an umbrella term for any technology that gathers about a person or organization without their knowledge. Advertisers or other interested parties often use spyware programming to gather and relay information.
Trojan horses are programs that, unlike a virus, contain or install a malicious program sometimes called the payload or "trojan." Trojan horses can run autonomously, masquerading as a useful program, or hack into the code of an existing program and executes itself while that program runs.
Two-factor authentication requires information you know and something that you have or own, to access an account. ATM cards, for instance, require something you know (one factor: your personal identification number) and something you have or own (second factor: your ATM card). Security experts recommend two-factor authentication over single-factor authentication.
Viruses are programs with the ability to replicate and install themselves, or infect, a computer without the computer user's knowledge or authorization.
Worms are computer viruses which can self-replicate by resending themselves via email or a network message.
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