Consumer Identifier Generation for Identity Theft Prevention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Identity theft is a rapidly growing crime that affects millions, causing financial and emotional distress, as existing methods fail to effectively prevent unauthorized access and use of personal information in electronic communications.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that generates a consumer identifier through a trusted service, allowing individuals to control its use by sequencing an encryption key transaction, enabling verification of commercially-related activities and providing a secure layer of protection against identity theft by managing their own identity information.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional credit verification methods are used, then businesses can access consumer information, but consumers lose control over their personal information and are vulnerable to identity theft
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables consumers to self-manage their identity information by issuing their own consumer identifiers and controlling access to their data. Consumers can generate identifiers, set permissions, and monitor usage without requiring intervention from creditors or third parties, thereby regaining control while maintaining security.
Solution Approach 2:
The consumer identifier acts as an intermediary between the consumer and creditors. Instead of creditors directly accessing sensitive consumer information, the system uses encrypted consumer identifiers as a intermediary layer that provides verification while protecting the underlying personal information, thus enabling secure access without exposing sensitive data.
2Productivity
If consumers share personal information freely to facilitate transactions, then businesses can verify identities, but consumers become vulnerable to identity theft and financial loss
Solution Approach 1:
The system creates a copy of consumer identification information in the form of consumer identifiers that can be shared safely. These identifiers are encrypted representations that allow verification without exposing the original personal information, enabling transactions to proceed while the actual consumer data remains protected and undisclosed to third parties.
Solution Approach 2:
The system transforms personal information into a different parameter form - the consumer identifier. This identifier is derived from and encrypted based on the consumer's personal data, changing the information from its original sensitive form into a secure, verifiable parameter that maintains identity verification capability while eliminating direct exposure of personal information.
3Reliability
If consumers use traditional identification methods, then businesses can access credit information, but consumers experience delayed discovery and resolution of identity theft
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides consumers with real-time feedback about who is accessing their identifier and what information is being requested. Consumers receive notifications when their identifier is used, allowing them to immediately detect unauthorized access and take corrective action, thereby reducing the time between theft occurrence and discovery compared to traditional methods where consumers only learn after damage occurs.
Data Source
AI summary
Preventing identity theft in electronic communications sequences (180) involves generating a consumer identifier (126) for an individual (92) from a trusted service (82), including a primary key (128), a unique identifier (130), and a consumer-defined sequence (132). The consumer-defined sequence (132) allows the individual (92) to control use of the consumer identifier (126) by third parties, such as business entities (112). The method and system further allows business entities (114) to verify use of the consumer identifier (126) by first initiating a verification process (196) via a secure connection (110). Verification includes comparing (200) the consumer identifier (126) with a pre-determined set of database records (86, 88, and 90). If the requesting business (108) has registered with the trusted service (82), the invention presents a positive or negative confirmation (208) to the requesting business (108) according to the inquiry (204). Then, the invention permits confirming (210) the requested information relating to the individual (92) via the secure connection (98, 102, 106), conditioned upon the requested information having previously been authorized by the individual for presenting to the requesting business (108).