Countering Identity Theft through Digital Uniqueness, Location Cross-Checking, and Funneling
By: Paul Van Oorschot and S. Stubblebine

in Financial Cryptography and Data Security 2005 (FC'05), Feb.28-Mar.3 2005, Commonwealth of Dominica. Proceedings: Springer LNCS (to appear).

16 September 2004 draft: http://www.scs.carleton.ca/~paulv/papers/pvoss6-1.pdf

ABSTRACT:
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.