Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert
Ever forge your husbands signature? Wife’s? Parents? Clients? Do you think the clerk behind the counter at Walmart is skilled in handwriting analysis? I’ve always viewed a signature as a totally ridiculous form of authentication and a total waste of my time when I sign my name. It’s always been burden and a frustrating task.
In my own research I have determined nobody knows when a handwritten signature became a form of authorization. Wikipedia doesn’t even have an entry for it. From what I can gather it seems the modern signature was born in the days when the “King†signed something declaring whatever. Eventually the villagers would sign their names when they were assigned accountability for whatever. So when we had kings and queens, moats, alligators, wizards and dragons, the signature was born. And we rely on this today. No so smart.
My signature has varied from a time intensive, physically demanding, well thought out, legible spelling of my first name, middle initial and last name, to a first initial, middle initial and last name. Then a quick scribe of what might look like an R then and S and a squiggly line (RS~~~~~~) as my last name. Today my signature, especially in a self checkout line is a strait line. Who the heck came up with electronic signature pads? STUPID!!!!!!!!!!
Between my drivers license, credit cards, checks, e-signature pads and whatever contracts I fill out on a yearly basis my signature is completely different on each document. Total inconsistency.
I had a meeting and many conversations with Robert Baier a forensic document examiner and handwriting analysis expert, and told him of my inconsistency and his facial expression, physical body language, shaking of the head and verbal response in totality said “That’s not good!†Bob is what I call the “Document Whispererâ€. He has savant like talents and can size a person up by their signature. Which means I probably disturb Bob.
I don’t really care about a signature. I don’t know if it’s because I’m lazy with this task or simply because I protest the ridiculousness of the handwritten signature. The fact is a handwritten signature provides zero proactive security. The way I see it, signing your name to any document ultimately assigns liability. Meaning if someone signs your name to a check and you call the bank and say “that wasn’t me†they then look at the signature card and determine if it was or wasn’t you. From there they assign liability to who loses. That’s dumb.
Other than at the teller line, most banks don’t actually view signature cards until there’s a problem. Same with credit card issuers etc. There are a few companies that actually have given validity to the handwritten signature. One such company is Orbograph and image-based fraud detection company north of Boston that actually looks at previous signatures and recognizes potential document fraud before loss occurs. If we are going to rely on signatures then this type of technology needs to be implemented EVERYWHERE.
Many smaller credit card purchases no longer require a hand written signature. Visa recently announced it would mandate a move to chip and PIN technology for all Australian Visa cardholders over the next four years, with signatures no longer accepted at the check-out by 2013. This means all card holders will have a password opposed to a signature.
Even though passwords aren’t all that secure to begin with, a signature is even less secure, unless of course we provide the signature some credibility by implementing image-based fraud detection system-wide or putting guys like Bob in a booth in every business district on the planet to review the legitimacy of the signature. That ain’t happening. But we have plenty of coffee shops on every corner. Seems our priorities are askew.
Because the system is insecure you must protect your identity.
Get a credit freeze. Go to ConsumersUnion.org and follow the steps for your particular state. This is an absolutely necessary tool to secure your credit. In most cases, it prevents new accounts from being opened in your name. This makes your Social Security number useless to a potential identity thief.
Invest in Intelius identity theft protection and prevention. Not all forms of identity theft protection can be prevented, but identity theft protection services can dramatically reduce your risk. “Disclosuresâ€
Robert Siciliano identity theft expert discussing all kinds of security issues on TBS Movie and a Makeover
2 users commented in " Handwritten Signature is Stupid Authorization "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackThe authors argument is very strange. I would like to record my strong disapproval of the views expressed on many grounds.
I do agree that there are difficulties in matching handwritten signatures. I also agree that some times signatures of the same person may differ at different points of time. It is also true that handwritten signatures can be forged some times with expertise which make it difficult to identify the forgery. It is also true that there may be some dumb bankers who may be paranoid with the signature “Tallying” with the specimen. (But they are ill informed persons who may not understand the science of handwriting analysis).
However, concluding that passwords are equal to or better than handwritten signatures looks funny.
The science of handwriting analysis indicates that handwriting is directly influenced by the person’s mental state at a point of time. However signature is a concious attempt to follow a known pattern of writing and under ordinary circumstances there are several aspects of the signature which are unique to the person. Many times these are also the giveaways in forgery.
In India we do trust the thumb impression more than the handwritten signature but certainly we donot reject the signature altogether as the author seems to suggest.
The author makes an interesting statement “..Wikipedia does not even have an entry for it (Ed: Meaning handwriting analysis)..”. This indicates that the author considers Wikipedia as an authority and values an entry there as much more than the practice which has prevailed over a long time and also stood the test of time admirably well.
Just because a Wikipedia editor does not understand a concept, and therefore rejects an entry as “Vandalism”, it does not mean that the rejected comment is actually incorrect. Wikipedia can only support concepts which are already popular and accepted by a number of people. It cannot recognize new and innovative concepts. (Still I don’t understand the reasons if handwriting analysis does not have an entry. May be the author is wrong on this fact. I need to check.. since handwriting analysis is too old a concept to be rejected as new, untested etc.)
I feel that the author suffers from a specific syndrome which makes him distrust signatures for some reason. If his own signature is not consistent, it may also indicate his state of mind which may be inconsistent over different points of time. I donot know what is this “Syndrome”? ..
We need to analyse it.
It could be a “Signature phobia” arising from some childhood incident where the author might have suffered adversely from a signature. It may be a “Technology Intoxication” where the author thinks that electronic authentication through passwords must be great may be because “Wikipedia.. says so” (!)and Wikipedia is a technology creation.
Let’s now simply call it a “Signature Phobia” if it is convenient. I would like the author to think deeply why he feels so strongly against handwriting analysts. If required he can take the assistance of a psycho analyst to dive into his sub-conscious mind and determine the cause of this strange opposition to the use of hand written signatures for authentication.
Supta Manas must be fun being in your head.
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