Business owners beware: online identity thieves are lurking where you can’t detect them.

That was the message last Friday as the University of Calgary launched its new Centre for Information Security and Cryptography.

“This is a very big problem,” said Hugh Williams, a U of C math professor and the new centre’s director.

PhoneBusters.com, a site which is operated by the Ontario Provincial Police and assists police departments across North America, states that this year, 724 Albertans – the fourth highest total in the country – were victimized for more than $806,000 in losses as con artists stole their identities and committed other frauds.

Simon Singh
Better awareness can thwart code-breakers, says Simon Singh.

Last year, 635 of Albertans were victimized for more than $593,000. In most cases, financial institutions picked up the tab.

“What we would like to do is have as much access to information, and as much expertise as we can, so that when problems develop, we will know the right people to talk to,” said Williams, a U of C math professor and researcher.

The centre, which contains a cryptography lab funded by the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, Alberta Innovation and Science, IBM and the U of C’s science faculty, will offer cryptography programs to undergraduate and post-graduate math, computer science and engineering students.

Williams said the facility will partner with industry, ensuring that students have access to companies and their practices, so that graduates will be able to fit into any business dealing with security matters.

“They have this expression ‘Moving at the speed of business’ – business moves much faster than the university,” said Williams.

Cryptography is the process of hiding information with numerical code and ensuring that data can only be read by senders and recipients.

Simon Singh, the U.K.-based author of The Code Book and Fermat’s Enigma, who was in Calgary for the launch of the centre, said encryption has existed for centuries – and is more important today than ever.

If it were not effective, he said, information thieves could cause the collapse of dot-com companies, stock markets and entire economies.

History, said Singh, shows us what happens when code is protected and broken. For example, Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded after her enemies deciphered her code, which relied on the cross and other symbols to hide words. In the 1960s, police were able to convict members of the Mafia through phone wiretaps.

“So that shows the power of being able to tap into communication and information,” said Singh. “Now, today, encryption is incredibly strong – absolutely, effectively unbreakable. By that, I mean I can take an e-mail, I can encrypt it and all of the world’s secret services working together cannot crack that e-mail. So that means the Mafia can do the same. Small-time criminals, people who own gambling rings – everyone – can use this technology.”

But on the other hand, said Singh, businesses and individuals also know that encryption can protect them. Const. Kathy Macdonald, of the Calgary Police Service’s crime-prevention unit, said the new U of C facility will motivate businesses and individuals to protect their private information.

“One of the biggest things it does is that it keeps it in the public eye,” said Macdonald. “It keeps the community aware of the kinds of things that do exist, and it’s important to educate your kids. They’re going to be the next ones getting bank accounts, and they’re getting student cards right now.”

Since home addresses, telephone numbers and other information can easily be searched on the Internet, said Macdonald, a criminal can obtain loans and mortgages under another person’s name. Often, she said, people won’t know they’ve been victimized until about 14 months later – when bill collectors start calling.

To prevent such problems, police encourage people to do a credit check on themselves once a year. Phonebusters.com can explain how to do one.

Shalin Kashyap, an information security adviser for Shell Canada, said the losses reported on Phonebusters are probably just a small sampling of what’s occurring.

The former Calgary police officer said the U of C cryptography centre students will develop skills that will be valuable to business, government and other organizations alike.

“The ability to report identity theft or information theft is the ability to detect it,” said Kashyap.

Web Watch:
www.cisac.math.ucalgary.ca