Group to Research ID Theft

A group of universities, law enforcement agencies, and technology vendors has formed to research the problem of identity fraud.

The Center for Identity Management and Information Protection is designed to consolidate the independent research efforts of many different organizations. The goal is to come up with some definitive answers on the causes and prevention of identity theft and fraud, the founders said in an announcement today.

The CIMIP, which will be based at Utica College in New York, includes IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM), LexisNexis, the FBI, the U.S. Secret Service, Carnegie Mellon University, Indiana University, and Syracuse University.

The group is an outgrowth of proposals made by several university researchers, including Gary Gordon, a professor at Utica who will head the center.

For more than five years, Gordon and colleagues at Utica's Economic Crime Insitute have been studying identity fraud in an effort to identify its growth, causes, and effects. The college has published several white papers on the topic, but researchers have been frustrated by their inability to collect all of the relevant data in one place.

The new group will gain access to research data owned by government and corporate organizations, making it possible to arrive at more definitive conclusions, officials say.

CIMIP will not only research the incidence of identity fraud, but will also make recommendations on ways to improve authentication technology, and it will possibly formulate opinions on legislation and regulation. Officials did not give a timetable for the group's research but said it will study identity fraud as it changes over the years, which suggests that the project will be long-term.

— Tim Wilson, Site Editor, Dark Reading