The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a U.N. branch based in Geneva fears that online privacy of internet users repeating username and password in multiple financial sites may be at stake. In its 2006 Internet report the ITU warned .. “This may cause security breaches, and leave them vulnerable to the machinations of identity thieves ever increasing in number and inventiveness” and felt .. “The lack of coordination in identification systems is a source of growing inconvenience to users and needs to be addressed rapidly”.
It hence called for developing alternatives and stop the re-usage of identifiers collected from the users, just ahead of a meet at Hong Kong. The ITU felt that with the increasing growth of online identity theft, users may loose their interest in expending.
Source: UN warns on password ‘explosion’
Suggested reading:
- Choosing Your Password (Yahoo security tips)
- Learn How to Avoid Scams and Fraud
- How to recognize spoofed Web sites
- Protecting Against Identity Misrepresentation and Theft
- Protect your laptop from loss, theft
