ARIZONA IDENTITY THEFT IS HOT TOPIC AT TECHNOLOGY CONVENTION ID theft is hot topic at technology convention

The Arizona Republic Feb. 9, 2006 05:45 PM

Banks and employers don't suffer the most when bad guys steal someone's identity. It's consumers who lose their money and spend countless hours trying to get their lives back.

And if consumers are going to take security into their own hands, plenty of companies are trying to make it easier to do so.

Identity theft and Internet security were hot topics at DEMO 2006, an annual conference that showcases new and emerging technologies for venture capitalists, journalists and acquisition-minded businesses. The event this week at the Pointe South Mountain Resort attracted 68 presenting companies and 700 attendees, which organizers called the biggest crowd since the dot-com heyday.

Security is still a matter of good news and bad news, Charles Palmer, director of IBM Corp.'s Privacy Research Institute, told the conference.

"People who use computers think about security {ellipsis} and that wasn't the case a few years ago,'' he said. "The bad news is, because we didn't think about security when we build things, we're paying for it now. It's complicated, and it's to the point where the Internet is where the money is.''

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