In response to the news about teen-centric social media site “I Heart It’s” reported breach and exposure of emails and passwords, PII, NuData offers commentary on the importanc of data security for kids’ and teen’s data. Kids are covered by COPPA, but only until they’re 13. Lisa Baergen, APR, MCC, Marketing Director at NuData Security Inc. commented below.
Lisa Baergen, APR, MCC, Marketing Director at NuData Security Inc.:
“This is the sort of mass email theft with login credentials that raises giant concerns about fraudsters targeting teens. They’re an especially vulnerable population for many reasons, including the fact that they’re on the cusp of building their credit, are heavily targeted by retailers, tend to expose PII on social media, and typically are a ‘clean slate’ of creditworthiness because they haven’t applied for credit yet. Moreover, teens are just entering the workplace, which launches their potential creditworthiness.
“Through social engineering, fraudsters can readily correlate sufficient identifying information to support viable identity theft – for credit accounts, personal loans, cars and more.
“The bottom line is that retailers and other organizations will continue to heavily target teens, and should protect their data – and all customer data — through advanced, integrated multi-layered authentication solutions that include passive behavioral biometrics. This lets merchants and financial institutions readily, transparently detect a valid, trusted identity from a fraudster, in ways that are impossible for would-be thieves to mimic or impersonate. In addition to the enormous savings that organizations can achieve by thwarting fraud through more advanced security, they’re also reducing the usability of their customers’ data, which directly benefits everyone – except fraudsters.”
