Countering Identity Theft Through Digital Uniqueness, Location Cross-Checking, and Funneling

One of today’s fastest growing crimes is identity theft – the unauthorized use and exploitation of another individual’s identity-corroborating information. It is exacerbated by the availability of personal information on the Internet. Published research proposing technical solutions is sparse. In this paper, we identify some underlying problems facilitating identity theft. To address the problem of identity theft and the use of stolen or forged credentials, we propose an authentication architecture and system combining a physical location cross-check, a method for assuring uniqueness of location claims, and a centralized verification process. We suggest that this system merits consideration for practical use, and hope it serves to stimulate within the security research community, further discussion of technical solutions to the problem of identity theft.