The biggest security threat is no longer identity theft, but "entity use", delegates at the Fraud, Oprisk & Security World Conference heard yesterday.
"The next big wave [of threats] is in non-traditional connections to the Internet," explained Trevor Symonds, Internet infrastructure manager at Old Mutual. "Criminals are moving away from identity theft, and towards the utilisation of a person`s entity."
Symonds said entities are formed though devices and technology such as domain names, cellphones, inter-connected Bluetooth devices, 3G phones and PDAs.
"These are, in their own right, becoming reflections of you," he said.
Entity theft, he explained, is the complete or partial theft of, and the use of, a device that is "identified" as you or has your identity without your knowledge.
A simple example would be to send a text message to someone using your number or disguising a caller ID.
Motivations for this form of exploitation are many and include that it is not yet seen as illegal, can lead to financial gain, the thief is assured of what he is getting, and obtaining the inherited associated privileges of the device.
"The criminal mindset is moving away from what they can get from you, to what they can use of yours," he concluded.
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