How criminals can instantly buy your identity
In the middle of teaching his Journalism class at NYU, Adam Penenberg’s laptop stops but it’s not frozen. A grey screen appears and directs him to dial a number to unlock his computer. Bemused, as the lecture grinds to a halt, he reaches for his phone. It won’t accept his PIN code. He’s been hacked. You might not be aware that hijacking somebody’s life – full-scale identity theft – doesn’t require any hacking expertise. Just criminal intent and some spare …
Let’s look at the traditional method of Knowledge-based authentication to understand its shortfalls. Background Since the dawn of the web, online account authentication has barely changed. A user would input their username (email or screen name) and follow up with a password. This is the foundation of knowledge-based authentication (KBA) For companies that aim to appear more secure, it isn’t uncommon for them to use knowledge-based authentication questions in addition to your password. I bank with two different bank accounts;