How to steal Colin Powell's identity

Posted by Joe on January 3rd, 2008

Secretary of State Colin Powell, former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman and potentially millions of other Americans are vulnerable to identity thieves thanks to state and local government websites according to a recent Washington Post investigation.

The Post found that many government websites allow access to public documents that include very sensitive personal information such as social security numbers, birthdays and addresses. Powell and Aikman's information was retrieved from local government sites in Virginia and Texas respectively as a way to illustrate how easy it is to access this personal info through the web. Needless to say, the accessibility of this type of information could render millions of Americans vulnerable to identity theft.

Luckily, many state and local governments have already enacted policies which prevent posting of vital personal information on public records websites. However, there are many that still do and it is next to impossible to remove this information from old documents.

As always, we strongly suggest that consumers protect themselves with proactive identity theft prevention and protection from a reputable identity theft prevention service. We have reviewed several of these services and invite you to read our identity theft prevention comparisons to learn more.