Recently, I wrote in my blog about those large companies that have so much critical personal data and that make this information available to all their employees for their easy reference, but which causes a potential security risk. If you’re interested in reading about it, just click here.
Another type of identity theft can very easily happen through those marketing sites that are also asking for a tad to much personal information (which the probably don’t even need). An example is the sign-up section of the micro-site of the Ministry of Sound: http://www.ministryofsound.com.sg/site/microsite.htm
I wonder why they need so much information: They’re asking for a name, an IC number and date of birth (all compulsory), which would already be quite sufficient for an identity-confirmation when you’re calling e.g. DBS. And through who’s hands is this information going? Are all these folks bonafide? If it’s just to get a ‘key’ or get rid of duplicate entries, there are a pletoria of other ways to get around this, an IC number is really not necessary.
Actually, what’s more scary is that my sister in law apparently just signed up. Most folks apparently trust these kind of sites very much. And I wonder how many people actually did a dilligence-check and had a look at whether this is really a bonafide website, or a website operated by a bunch of identity crooks.
Sometimes I wonder, folks in Singapore can sometimes be so cautious and calculative (kiasu was invented here), but at the same time, they could fall in the simplest traps with both eyes wide open…
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