Fewer exposed to ID theft

More than 100,000 Norwegians have been exposed to ID theft over the past two years. However, this is a decline compared to previous years.

The figures are from a survey conducted by the Norwegian Center for Information Security (NorSIS) and the Tax Administration.

The survey shows that 2.5 per cent of those surveyed have experienced that others have misused their identity to commit criminal acts. In previous years, the average has been around 3.7 per cent. This means that the number of those affected has been reduced by around 50,000 people.

33 per cent of those who have had their identity misused have experienced that others have purchased a product or similar in their name on the internet.

21 per cent state that someone has purchased a product or similar in a store in their name, while 13 per cent say others have claimed to be them on social media.

Senior adviser Ole Anders Ulsrud of NorSIS believes that various security measures can explain parts of the decline.

“We believe that the main reasons for this decline have been increased use of BankID, both by financial institutions and other outlets, but also that more people use two-step verification at login. It makes it much more difficult to abuse the identity of others on social media and the like,” says Ole Anders Ulsrud of NorSIS.

In the survey, 37 per cent state that they use 2-step verification where possible. Just two years ago, this figure was 29 per cent.

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today