| This study explored the comparative discoverability of identity attributes in Internet-accessible public records. It offers up a framework for a methodology for ascribing a "discoverability factor" to identity attributes commonly used with knowledge-based authentication systems. The study also sought to determine if correlations exist between the frequency with which identity attributes are published in public records and reported identity theft. Following a comprehensive literature review, a quantitative research methodology employing content analysis was performed on a total of 6,598 public records, enumerating the number and types of different identity attributes that were found in easily accessible public records. Public records were selected from those available on SearchSystems.net, using a stratified purposive sampling approach. Descriptive statistics were first performed and reported on the coded data, after which the identity attributes were grouped using principal components analysis (PCA) to reduce the data. Correlations to the Federal Trade Commission's 2008 reported identity theft rates were performed using Spearman's rho at a significance level of .05. The findings from this research supported the overall hypothesis of a relationship between the amount of identity information in online public records and identity theft. It did not, however, infer a cause-and-effect relationship between the two, and sampling limitations somewhat weaken generalization. Identity attribute indices were assigned based on the frequency with which they were found, with a discussion provided on the possible use of discoverability as a factor to be considered when developing an identity confidence scoring algorithm. |
