Who Responded to Equifax? Self-Protection Strategies When Guardians Fail
Routine activity theory suggests that crime occurs when a motivated offender meets a suitable target and no capable guardian is present. In identity theft that occurs online, potential victims can sometimes act as their own guardians. Self-protection strategies, such as identity theft monitoring sof...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2021
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| In: |
Victims & offenders
Year: 2021, Volume: 16, Issue: 8, Pages: 1149-1160 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Keywords: |
| Summary: | Routine activity theory suggests that crime occurs when a motivated offender meets a suitable target and no capable guardian is present. In identity theft that occurs online, potential victims can sometimes act as their own guardians. Self-protection strategies, such as identity theft monitoring software, can be implemented by potential victims to act as guardians against identity theft. Little is known about the situations when a suitable target becomes their own guardian. This article seeks to understand this situation by looking at self-protection behaviors after the Equifax breach of 2017. Using data from a North Carolina Poll Survey, we examine self-protection measures implemented following this potential victimization. When do individuals enact their own self-guardian behaviors? We find that measures of computer use do not predict whether an individual will enact self-protection measures following the Equifax breach. Rather, we find that negative emotions around identity theft lead individuals to enact self-protection measures. |
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| ISSN: | 1556-4991 |
| DOI: | 10.1080/15564886.2021.1876801 |
