Forget the NSA: Worry About the Criminals Lurking in Your Computer

There's a lot going on inside your computers, tablets and smartphones these days—and sometimes, connections are made you may not even be aware of.

For millions of people each year, those connections provide thieves with all the information they need to clean out bank accounts or open fraudulent credit card accounts in someone else's name, costing billions in losses.

And for the victims of identity theft, it can take months to restore their credit.

That's what happened to Robert Lackie, professor-librarian at Rider University's 
Moore Library and victim-turned-avenger who will be speaking at the Hillsborough Public Library at 10 a.m. Saturday.

"I became very interested in ID theft around 2006 when I and a family member became victims of identity thieves—especially since I was teaching a lot about integrating technology into the  curriculum or training sessions, paired with Internet safety to teachers, parents, and students, as well as employees and patrons of libraries, universities, and businesses," he said. 

Lackie and J. Drew Procaccino, an associate professor in Rider's Department of Computer Information Systems, began studying the issue—especially from the perspective of how to prevent identity theft by safeguarding Internet connections.

He noted there were 537 million reported data records breached from 2005 to mid-Sept. 2013, even as awareness of the problem was growing. Social networking sites, personal information and general purpose search engines, and your own home, work and public-use computers—all of which provide considerable information on you—also save your digital footprint. And even as ID theft has grown, many people are not vigilant in protecting their privacy, identification and good name.

"This session will help you analyze ID safety issues and apply safeguards at work, home, and on the road, not to mention connect to and retrieve additional notable online identity and privacy sites, tools, and resources—all so that you can learn how to detect and protect your digital footprint," Professor Lackie said.

Registration is required to attend the session, which can be done online through the library's webpage.