ITAC releases analysis of 2008 ID theft

WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- The Washington-based non-profit Identity Theft Assistance Center has released a study of identity-theft crimes in 2007 with prediction analysis for 2008.

ITAC is a coalition of financial services companies partnered in an effort to protect customers from identity theft. Officials say identify theft will remain a complex crime for the coming year despite progress made addressing the crime in 2007.

"The year 2007 was significant because we saw growing cooperation between the public and private sectors, which is the only way that we, as a society, can fight identity theft," ITAC President Anne Wallace said in a statement.

Officials say the growth of state and regional task forces devoted to identity theft along with recommendations by the White House Task Force on Identity Theft were among other positive advances in 2007.

But ITAC officials say criminals will continue to exploit new technologies in 2008 including peer-to-peer file-sharing networks that will continue to be a problem. ITAC also predicts the growth in importance of data security breaches and the increasing political challenge of the protection of personal information.

ITAC says identity thieves will continue to defy profiles but that big busts and criminal penalties will continue law enforcement's ability to investigate as identity crime grows.