Identity Theft Demonstration

Bruce Schneier, a strong voice in computer security, gave a presentation on identity theft to the IT Security Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa. The opening reception featured a theatrical example of the dangers associated with identity theft. The skit involved an actor pretending to be Bruce, carrying examples of his identity:

An impostor burst in on the scene and claimed to be Bruce. He produced a passport that identified himself as Mr. Bruce Schneier. He then had his interlocutor check images on Google, FBI.gov and CIA.gov, all of which identified this bloke as Bruce. It was only after Bruce solved a simple block cypher of the words “I am Bruce” that the impostor fled the scene.

The real Bruce Schneier then explained the point of this exercise in a video you can watch here:

Bruce points out the problems with authenticating an identity. Government identifications and websites can all be manipulated to associate a person with a stolen identity. If your identity is solely tied to information that can be breached and stolen, authentication of identity becomes a major issue. This is an issue we all face today.

Via ZDNet Tags: identity theft, identity authentication, identity, bruce schneier, security