UC's CIMIP Holds Board of Advisors Meeting at ECI Conference

Recap Activities; Plan Future Projects

Written By Barbara Stack

Utica, NY (12/01/2010)

- The Center for Identity Management and Information Protection (CIMIP) Board of Advisors held its semi-annual meeting on Oct. 18, at the Bolger Center, Potomac, Maryland, prior to the Economic Crime Institute (ECI) of Utica College’s 21st Annual Conference. The conference, “Lessons from the Financial Crisis: Fraud and Corruption on the Loose,” examined the fraud and corruption that manifested itself in the financial crisis of 2008-2009 and many others like it.
 
Housed at Utica College, CIMIP is a research collaborative dedicated to furthering a national research agenda on identity management, information sharing and data protection. Founded in June 2006, its ultimate goal is to impact policy, regulation, and legislation, working toward a more secure homeland.

At the meeting, board members discussed ongoing projects within CIMIP, including Critical Factors Affecting Identity Theft, Identity Fraud Research Project, and the Sex Offender Authentication Research Project, for which a workshop was held the afternoon of October 18. This workshop included special guests from government agencies to view preliminary results of the study to date. The board also examined possible areas of research for CIMIP, and the future direction of the center in other identity fraud-related areas, such as mortgage fraud research and telecommunication research, as well as an increased focus on the use of cell phones for identity theft. The activities of CIMIP in 2010 were also discussed, including an identity theft seminar given to First Source Federal Credit Union, featuring NYPD Detective Judy Newton.

Board members attending included: Dr. Donald Rebovich, executive director, CIMIP; Dr. James Byrne, University of Massachusetts; Tracy Gast, United States Secret Service; Dan Cortez, United States Postal Inspection Service; Brian Zimmer, Coalition for a Secure Driver’s License; Tim Carroll, SIR; Dr. Heith Copes, University of Alabama; Jerry O’Farrell, United States Postal Inspection Service; Dr. Andrew Harris, University of Massachusetts; Alexa Hancock, Florida Highway Patrol Bureau of Investigation; Dr. Kyung-Seok Choo, University of Massachusetts; Dr. Robert Morris, University of Texas; Tom Oscherwitz, ID Analytics; Ingrid Norris, CIMIP; and Barbara Stack, CIMIP. Attending by teleconference were Scott Coby, Triad Biometrics, and Brenda Sorenson, TASCET.

Three guests also attended the meeting: Christopher Hancock from the State of Florida Office of Financial Regulation; Raymond Philo, research director for the Department of Economic Crime and Justice Studies at Utica College; and Michael Carlson, ID Analytics, product analyst on the Sex Offender Authentication Study.