New Group Joins to Stop ID Theft

Hoping to stem the growing tide of identity theft, a wide-ranging coalition that includes corporations, government agencies, and academia came together Wednesday to form the Center for Identity Management and Information Protection.

According to the mission of the coalition, the CIMIP hopes to "facilitate a national research agenda on identity fraud and theft, information sharing policy, and data protection."

Some of the groups involved include Lexis Nexis, IBM, the FBI, Secret Service, the Case Center, Indiana University's Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research, Carnegie Mellon's Software Engineering Institute, and the Economic Crime Institute of Utica College.

CIMIP plans to push for more research into how to prevent identity theft, and lobby for legislation that better protects personal data. "Completing research and publishing papers based on the results is not enough," the group said on its Web site.

"The results must be put into action in the form of best practices, new policies, regulations, and legislation, training opportunities, and proactive initiatives for solving the growing problems of identity fraud and theft, secure sharing of information, and information protection," it continued.

Initial funding for CIMIP would be a half million dollars, with that number expected to triple over the next several years. Money would come from both the companies involved and federal grants. Funds would be used for research and implementation of new strategies to ensure data is more secure.

Information gathered will be shared freely, the group said, as well as presented in conferences sponsored by the coalition.