My identity theft and security risks inherent in technology

I recently became a victim of identity theft. It started in September with a letter from my mortgage company, Countrywide, telling me and my wife that one of Countrywide’s employees sold our personal information. The employee was fired and Countrywide paid for two years of credit monitoring service. But that hardly seems adequate for what I’m going through.

I wish we had put fraud alerts on our social security numbers then, but we didn’t. It wasn’t until I noticed fraudulent activity on my credit report in late December, and by then it was too late.

We’re now clients of LifeLock, but I’m still sorting through dozens new fraudulently opened credit accounts with balances due and many, many, many fraudulent inquiries into my credit. It’s a nightmare.

You may be wondering how this post relates to public relations and social media. Read on…

I read an article this week in the New York Times about the security risk in allowing President-elect Obama to continue to use his BlackBerry. It appears that the Secret Service and legal counselors are winning the argument for Obama to pry himself away from the BlackBerry, at least for as long as he’s president.

My thoughts turn to technology itself, and to one comment from the NYT article by Bruce Schneier, an expert on encryption and security:

“If the BlackBerry was completely secure, it would be the first time in the history of mankind.”

Truth be told, all technology has security risks.

But there are also security risks to my brain remembering, for instance, the various usernames and passwords to online accounts, much less birthdays and anniversaries in my immediate family.

I think what I’m getting at is information overload. We’re bombarded with too much information. Technology is required to manage it. And technology’s not secure.

So, we live with the risk. We ignore it or comfort ourselves in the knowledge that everyone’s exposed to pretty much the same amount risk.

Despite all our technological prowess, we still haven’t figured out how to prevent identity theft.

We’re not smart enough to require a phone call to verify information when opening new credit accounts, or in-person credit applications where photo identification is required.

And yes, I realize photo IDs can also be compromised. At least in my case my personal cards and information are in my possession and secure. It’s just all the new unwarranted activity that’s wreaking havoc.

Why do credit offers seem as abundant as air? Is there nothing special about credit?

As for the public relations implications of what I’m writing about . . .

Countrywide has a problem if its employees are selling personal information that leads to identity theft, even if they graciously pay for credit monitoring.

LifeLock has a great business idea that’s unfortunately needed in this day and age.

And I have a breach in my personal brand — fraudulent credit activity — that’s sucking up my valuable resources in time, energy and money.