Catherwood LibraryILR School

As identity theft becomes an ever more common occurrence, leaving a growing number of lives shattered in its wake, a report issued yesterday by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has brought to light some chilling facts that are of major concern to working men and women across America. The FTC study reveals that the top sources of information used in identity theft---a crime which has almost doubled in the past year---are employment records that are often unprotected or only minimally protected by workers' employers. Such information as names, birth dates, addresses and social security number are routinely stored in unsecured paper files or centralized computer databases that can be accessed not only by unscrupulous coworkers and bosses, but also by outside contractors, making it possible for identity thieves to rack up huge credit card debts in workers' names.