Web Hacking: Attacks and Defense

Chapter 13. Impersonation

Â	When the first just and friendly man appeared on the earth, from that day a fatal Waterloo was visible for all the men of pride and fraud and blood.	Â
Â	--Charles Fletcher Dole (1845– ?)

Introduction

Identity fraud, or the ability of one person to take on the identity of another and thereby subsume his role in society, affects an estimated 750,000 people annually. Combined with the fact that identity fraud is the number one consumer complaint filed with the Federal Trade Commission, is it any wonder that cyber impersonation holds any less risk?

In fact, taking on someone's identity over the Internet is infinitely easier than doing so in the physical world. That's because few people understand the risks and even fewer ...