Fake IDs, fake passports lead to identity theft

Posted by Robert Siciliano on March 16th, 2009

Robert Siciliano is a NextAdvisor.com Expert Guest Blogger

If someone can easily create a form of identification with your credentials, what does that mean for your personal security? What does that mean in regards to identity theft? How are you supposed to be you, when someone else can do the same?

Fake IDs can be just for fun too. Who in their teens and college years didn't have a fake ID? I did.

At 17, I was 23! That meant I could buy alcohol, go to bars and take others to "R" rated movies. It also meant I was a ROCK STAR. For a minute.

A friend of mine peeled apart Massachusetts IDs and melted crayons together to create colors that matched the IDs colors. He would apply the crayon to the face of the ID and alter the persons age. For example if you were born in 1968, he would color the left side of the 8 the same color as the ID making it a 3. 1963 gave you five extra years to party!!

Then he'd just seal it back up and voila! You were a ROCK STAR.

CNN reported that the Government Accountability Office did a test. An investigator used a fake ID to get a real passport. Once he had the passport, he bought an airline ticket and went through security. How stupidly big is that hole in security?

Former DHS Secretary Chertoff said, (and I agree) "I'm going to submit to you that in the 21st century, the most important asset that we have to protect as individuals and as part of our nation is the control of our identity, who we are, how we identify ourselves, whether other people are permitted to masquerade and pretend to be us, and thereby damage our livelihood, damage our assets, damage our reputation, damage our standing in our community."

The problem here is that the speed of technology has far outpaced the security of our identifying documents. Anyone with a computer, scanner, printer, laminator and, for crying out loud, CRAYONS, can create breeder documents in order to acquire real IDs.

This makes it very difficult to prevent identity theft when anyone can impersonate you at any time.

What contributes to the problem is there are thousands of variations of birth certificates, dozens of Social Security cards and a couple hundred different driver's licenses in circulation. There is very little security and no significant standards to prevent counterfeiting. I'm sure plenty will argue this point with me. However, the fact remains that fake IDs are everywhere.

Identity theft protection becomes very difficult.

While technology certainly exists to properly identify and authenticate through numerous technologies, privacy advocates and ignorant politicians will fight till the death to prevent their implementation for two reasons. The first is cost, which is a naive argument. The second involves privacy issues.

As far as cost is concerned, it's worth it to spend whatever it takes to properly identify and authenticate. Privacy is DEAD. Security is the issue we need to be concerned about. We need to manage our circumstances and tighten things up. The UAE has an "Identity Card" in place that is the best active solution I'm aware of.

There are hundreds of solutions being proposed every day, but cost and privacy continue to creep up. One argument some have is that technologies such as RFID and biometrics are the equivalent to the Mark of The Beast. That just goes right over my head.

The Real ID Act has been passed, slammed and revisited. It is the first step towards effective authentication. Fight it as you might, its coming.

Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Speaker discusses identity theft and the rampant use of Social Security numbers here.

I'm very excited to work with Uni-ball in 2009 in a partnership to help raise awareness about the growing threat of identity theft and to provide tips for protecting yourself. Check out uniball-na.com for more information.

Robert Siciliano is CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com , an identity theft expert, professional speaker, security analyst, published author and television news correspondent. Siciliano works with Fortune 1000 companies and startups as an advisor on product launches, branding, messaging, representation, SEO and media. Siciliano's thoughts and advice on all these matters appear often in both the televised and print news media including CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, FOX, Forbes and USA Today. He has 25 years of security training as a member of the American Society of Industrial Security. He is the author of 2 books, including The Safety Minute: Living on High Alert; How to take control of your personal security and prevent fraud.