Social media leading to more identity fraud in South Yorkshire
A Sheffield cyber security expert's warning we're sharing too much on social media - putting us at risk of falling victim to identity fraud.
Hackers can steal your identity in a matter of hours, just by getting information from your social media - that's the warning today from a Sheffield expert.
New figures show identity fraud went up by 57% last year, and it's being put down to people sharing too much information on platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
Dr David Day's a cyber crime expert at from Sheffield Hallam University - he says it's an ideal place for hackers to find personal details:
"Your go-to place is Facebook and Twitter, just harvesting the information that you find on there that people seem happy to give out - your children's names, the names of your pets. These are the kinds of questions that are quite often used as security questions. It's a beautiful place to harvest if you're a hacker."
"From using small bits of information you can quickly latch on, find a bit more, use that information to find a bit more as you build a profile of the particular individual. It's frightening actually how much information you probably have out there about yourself without realising."
Experts say social media's now being used as a "hunting ground" to steal cash.
Cifas found that there were 148,463 victims of the crime in 2015, compared with just 94,492 the previous year.
The criminals get personal information from social media and hack into private systems to get details such as a person's name, date of birth, address and name of their bank, and then can apply for a loan or buy a product in their name, leaving the innocent party to foot the bill.
The largest rises were seen among the 31-40 and 51-60 age groups, with rises of 64% and 60% respectively.
Dr Day says it's remarkably easy for hackers to use your social media to their own advantage:
"If you sit down there with the appropriate tools and the appropriate mindset a skilled individual can collect potentially enough information to perform identity fraud in a matter or hours...or potentially less. It's a problem that people aren't aware of how much information they're parting with about themselves."
"Unless something changes it's going to get worse. The message just doesn't seem to be getting home. I saw the other day somebody gloating about a big fancy meal they'd gone for. In the photograph that they put out, they had their credit card on top of the bill, the full long digits showing. That went out on Twitter and it went out on Facebook."