3 April 2008 11:20 GMT
Sophos on BBC Identity Fraud documentary tonight
Tonight British readers of our blog will be able to see behind-the-scenes at SophosLabs in a documentary being broadcast by the BBC.
The “Identity Fraud: Outnumbered” documentary, which was filmed last summer, discusses the growing problem of identity theft and a film crew visited SophosLabs to see how we track botnet computer networks and compromised spamming computers around the globe.
Here is some of the pre-publicity information about the programme that the BBC issued:
Identity Fraud is the fastest growing crime in the 21st Century. Last year nearly 200,000 Britons fell foul of fraudsters who stole millions of pounds.
This programme features access to the City of London’s Economic Crime Unit which is the UK’s only specialist police unit taking on identity thieves, and explores the way that your identity can be at risk from those closest to you. It features stories of identity fraud carried out by flatmates and family members, and the way that criminals might not only be out to steal your money but also your reputation. It follows the stories of a man falsely branded a paedophile after an identity fraudster used his credit card details on a pornographic website and a man wrongly jailed in a foreign country after a criminal used his passport details to commit crimes abroad.
The programme also reveals that many Britons are disposing of their personal computers without wiping their personal details. DC Tony Noble of Surrey Police shows how you can protect yourself from these cyber thieves.
We haven’t seen the finished documentary ourselves, so we’ll be making popcorn, putting the telephone answer-machine on, and getting ourselves comfy on the sofa along with the rest of the British public.
A few media publications have written previews about the TV programme, which will be broadcast at 9pm on BBC One tonight:
BBC News Online: “I was falsely branded a paedophile”
The Sun: “They Stole My Life”
The Guardian: “Trust no-one”
It’s quite likely that the BBC will make the documentary available on their iPlayer service shortly after broadcast for people who aren’t at home to watch it.
Unfortunately iPlayer isn’t accessible outside of the UK - sorry for our readers overseas… maybe other stations will broadcast it in future?
If you are unable to see the documentary then you can still see a glimpse of the more frivolous goings-on at SophosLabs in the YouTube video we published on April Fools’ day.
Graham Cluley, Sophos
