My brief career as an identity thief.

During my network security the teacher had us do an interesting, if not rather creepy exercise. She had us walk around pretending we were identity thieves. We were to talk around the PCC Sylvania campus and look for information that was out in the open that could be useful information to an identity thief. It was rather creepy realizing how much information people leave out for anyone to see. People will do online banking in a crowded library where anyone can see the computer screen. People will leave open mail including credit card and banking information on their car seats or dash boards. One car  had its window left a third way down. Inside was a pile of mail including credit card and bank statements. I could have just reached out and taken it. Even information that seems harmless like parking permit information can be useful to an identity thief. Identity thief will use seemingly harmless pieces of information to phish for more useful information. If you have your identity stolen you know now who to look for.