Here is something unique: the developers at IBM have created an interesting solution to help prevent identity theft. It acts as a middle man when it comes to providing sensitive information for online transactions. Get this: it uses pseudonyms to satisfy requirements for sensitive information… all without having to put in the sensitive information yourself. I feel this could be very ground-breaking in identity theft prevention if it is successful.

IBM on Friday unveiled a new open source software project, IBM Identity Mixer, or “Idemix,” that the company said will mask consumer information exchanged in Web transactions and helping to combat online identity theft.

Idemix was created by IBM researchers in Switzerland and will enable consumers to purchase goods online without disclosing sensitive information. The new technology acts as a middle man in online transactions between merchants and consumers. The software creates “pseudonyms” for online transactions that satisfy requirements for sensitive information, such as credit card number, social security number, date of birth or driver’s license number, without actually providing the information, according to a statement from the company.

IBM plans to contribute Idemix to the Eclipse Open Source Foundation’s Project Higgins, an open source identity management framework backed by IBM, Novell and Harvard University.[more]

Tags: Computer Protection, Encryption