Identity theftNameInstitutionDefinition Identity theft is the act of stealing someone's identity in which someone pretends to be another person by assuming their identity. The purpose of identity theft is to gain access to resources or credit and other benefits in that person's name. The victim, whose identity is stolen, often suffers negative consequences due to the perpetrator's actions. The perpetrator obtains these benefits by using the victim's name, Social Security number, identification number, or credit card number to commit fraud. For an act to be identity theft, the perpetrator must use the acquired personal information to gain an advantage (Berghel, 2000). Techniques for Obtaining Personal Information There are various ways that criminals can use to obtain personal information for use in identity theft. Information can be recovered by stealing credit cards, rummaging through garbage for personal information, advertising fake jobs to obtain personal information, and using social engineering. Information technology has also enabled criminals to acquire personal information, and the methods used to acquire such information include hacking computer networks, abusing privileged IT access, impersonating trusted institutions in emails, l use of brute force techniques and the exploitation of social networks to obtain personal information. . Furthermore, information can be obtained from redundant computer equipment and systems and by stealing information using breaches in the computer browser or using malware and Trojan horses (Smith & Lias, 2005). Types of Identity Theft There are generally five categories of identity theft and they are financial identity theft, medical identity... means of paper... to report incidents of identity theft to the responsible authorities in order to assist in the investigation of such events (Finch, 2003). Reference ListBerghel, H. (2000). Identity theft, social security numbers and the web. Communications of the ACM, 43(2), 17-21. Brody, R. G., Mulig, E., & Kimball, V. (2007). PHISHING, PHARMING AND IDENTITY THEFT. Journal of the Academy of Accounting and Financial Studies, 11(3). Finch, E. (2003). What a tangled web we weave: identity theft and the Internet. Point. Cons: crime, deviance and identity on the Internet. Cullompton, England: WillanMarshall, A.M., & Tompsett, B.C. (2005). Identity theft in an online world. Computer Law & Security Review, 21 (2), 128-137. Smith, A. D., & Lias, A. R. (2005). Identity theft and electronic fraud as critical CRM issues. International Journal of Business Information Systems (IJEIS), 1 (2), 17-36