A career coach that I’ve been working with as I navigate the transitions of my recent layoff sent me an article recently that sheds light on something I never even considered – the risk of identity theft during your job hunt. I don’t know about you but I think of identityfishing.jpg theft every time I shred and am asked for confidential information like social security numbers. I never before thought that the simple act of posting my resume on one of the major online job boards could put me at risk.

Recently hackers attacked Monster.com members attempting to obtain personal information and engage in identity theft. According to this article on The Boston Channel the hackers utilized the oldie but goodie method of social engineering to gain access. That means they posed as employers and recruiters to gain access to the personal information. Back in the days when I was a professional auditor, social engineering was always the hardest intrusion point to stop. Why? The multiple points of failure inherent in people-based processes. Social engineering is a variety of techniques people looking to commit fraud employ to attempt to gain access to information and systems they have no right gaining access to. For instance, within an organization, a new employee or contractor might pose as someone who needs access to the payroll systems. The become part of the organization, gain friends and trust with other co-workers, and then ask for (and often receive) access to information they shouldn’t. It is so difficult to stop because you can’t just throw some systematic or automatic technical solution to the problem. You need to create checks and balances within the manual people based processes and then enforce those procedures.

The good news is that these hackers did not succeed (at least as far as the article reports) at identity theft although the investigation is still underway. For those of you job hunting, it is best to keep in mind the same safety tips as you do when you purchase or bank online.

I am not one to walk around paranoid. That doesn’t serve anyone. However, keeping your eyes and ears open and taking precautions are the name of the game in these tech times. Job hunting is a job unto itself; make sure it doesn’t become an identity theft project as well.

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Paula Gregorowicz is the Comfortable in Your Own Skin(tm) Coach and you can learn more at her website www.thepaulagcompany.com and blog www.coaching4lesbians.com .

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