Identity is your birthright, and it must be protected

The opinions expressed by entrepreneurs contributors are their own.

The thought of an intruder breaking into our home in the middle of the night fills most people with dread, and it should. We have a natural aversion to unwanted visitors, not to mention malicious intruders who threaten our families and property. We lock our doors, install cameras and keep guard dogs as a precaution. So why not take the same steps to secure the very essence of ourselves in a much more intrusive and insecure environment: the Internet?

Your most valuable asset

Your most valuable asset is the physical attributes, legal name, identification documents, occupation, experiences, community, sense of self, and purpose that make up your identity. All of these things, when considered holistically, are what make you, you. No one else who ever existed or ever will exist on earth shares your identity. It's only yours. It is the essence that you share with your family, your colleagues and your community; it is the foundation of your whole life.

This is what I call your "authentic identity". No one is entitled to it, but that doesn't stop the most corrupt among us from trying to steal it.

Related: 4 Ways to Protect Yourself Against Identity Theft

Lost trust, lost trust

We live in an age of unprecedented convenience, but that convenience comes at a steep price. Thieves, malicious actors and criminals are constantly trying to compromise our identity. Unfortunately, many of us are only too willing to share personal information with anonymous hordes of profiles on the Internet. Yet much of the blame lies with the people who shape our behaviors on the internet.

We believe inherently that the entities behind our Internet experience will protect our data, but that trust is often misplaced. Every violation of our identity is a violation of the trust we have when browsing the web. Fraudsters are very sophisticated, and they are easily able to steal the most when protected behind the thin wall of password authentication. When they do, the results can be catastrophic.

The (more) dark side of identity theft

When we consider the effects of identity theft, the first thing that often comes to mind is fraudulent financial activity, such as opening a fake credit card account in our name or applying for a loan. However, there are more personal and intimate ways in which bad actors can use our identities.

Human trafficking remains a huge problem, exacerbated by the Internet. Its links to identity theft, while not obvious, are there. Victims may be coerced into trafficking by threats from identity thieves or forced to make financial decisions that rob them of their independence. Human traffickers use fake identities to troll social media sites, looking for unwary victims to persuade to meet. Thieves can also use stolen identities to forge identities for trafficked persons, depriving two people of an essential part of their humanity. These victims become invisible to society and unrecognizable to themselves, losing hope of ever being able to claim their birthright. But there is a way.

Related: How Businesses Can Combat Human Trafficking

A path to redemption

The Internet was created to share information almost instantly around the world. It's done, but that spirit of sharing has created a world where the most infamous among us can operate largely unchecked and behind the cloak of anonymity. It's time for the most influential companies and agencies in our society to crack down on these thieves and stop them from stealing our most personal information by adopting a security mindset from the start, not just an afterthought during development. new programs or services.

Even with more robust security practices, spoofing will still occur. Victims of the iden...