STUDENTS AT RISK FOR IDENTITY THEFT

Students at risk for identity theft.

As a leading Nashville Identity Theft Lawyer, Micah Adkins routinely sees different types of Identity Theft. One type of identity theft that is on the rise is in regards to students.

School computer networks have become the latest targets for internet attacks. Cyber attacks on schools are causing internet blackouts in schools across the country. Without the internet, teachers are often unable unable to present lesson plans. More dubiously, some of the cyber attacks expose students’ personal identifying information to hackers. As these attacks continue to increase, the need grows for protection of our children and their personal information.

Photo: Charles Krupa, AP

“In September, the FBI issued a public service announcement warning the growth of education technologies and widespread collection of student identification data along with other information including academic progress and classroom activities ‘could have privacy and safety implications if compromised or exploited.’” The FBI also stated that “malicious use of the data could lead to bullying, tracking, identity theft and other threats.”

Attacks on school internet systems can impact on students’ education, but also their personal identifying information. Information farmed from a school’s database can be sold online, used to steal students’ identities or to track a student. In other words, the data breaches can lead to identity theft. Hackers have many motivations to obtain the data, from pranks to criminal identity theft. The consequences for attacking a school system’s internet could include felony charges and jail time. FULL STORY.

The Adkins Firm represents victims of identity theft, credit report errors and background reporting errors. Have you discovered fraudulent information on your credit report? Have you disputed the errors to the credit reporting agencies, but the credit bureaus verified the fraudulent information belongs to you? If you answered yes to these questions, then you should make an appointment with us for a free case review with one of our attorneys.