Comments on: Millions at risk in ATO security bungle http://www.crikey.com.au/2008/11/03/millions-at-risk-in-ato-security-bungle/ now with extra source Sun, 12 Feb 2012 02:14:27 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Kevin Cox http://www.crikey.com.au/2008/11/03/millions-at-risk-in-ato-security-bungle/#comment-7138 Kevin Cox Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000 #comment-7138 Although beefing up security is one to help solve the problem the other is make information more easily accessible to the owners of tax file numbers. For example this problem could be nipped in the bud if everytime my TFN was used I was notified that it had been used.<br /><br />If a person taking out an ABN along with the directors of companies had to be identified then we would know who it was. If people used stolen identities then the people whose identities had been stolen could be notified.<br /><br />That is, we should assume that identities will be stolen and help overcome the problem by making sure that everytime your identity was used you were notified independently of the transaction. This would make it much more difficult for criminals to get away with identity theft. Although beefing up security is one to help solve the problem the other is make information more easily accessible to the owners of tax file numbers. For example this problem could be nipped in the bud if everytime my TFN was used I was notified that it had been used.

If a person taking out an ABN along with the directors of companies had to be identified then we would know who it was. If people used stolen identities then the people whose identities had been stolen could be notified.

That is, we should assume that identities will be stolen and help overcome the problem by making sure that everytime your identity was used you were notified independently of the transaction. This would make it much more difficult for criminals to get away with identity theft.

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