Identity Fraud Growing Challenge for International Terrorism Prevention

DAYTON, OH, October 17, 2002 - Governments and businesses lacked the tools to authenticate the identities of the individuals responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks, allowing them to hide in plain sight. New approaches to preventing terrorism by stopping identity fraud are the subjects of a speech given today by Norm Willox, Chief Officer for Privacy, Industry and Regulation for LexisNexis™, a global leader in information management techniques for combating terrorism.

“LexisNexis has been authenticating individuals and business transactions for more than 14 years,” said Willox.  “Preventing identity fraud and closing off this tool of terrorists is going to require authentications systems that rely on the collection of identifying data on a global scale, better information sharing and public-private partnerships that merge resources and expertise.”

Willox gave the speech, “The Terrorist Threat: Playing the Hide and Seek Game Through Identity Fraud,” at the Ninth Asian Professional Security Association Conference in Singapore.

Willox added, “When federal law enforcement agencies contacted us for help on the afternoon of September 11th, we were able to provide immediate access to our systems and assisted in tracking down the identities of a number of the terrorists very quickly.  In the days since that national tragedy, we have continued to refine our systems to best serve the needs of those responsible for protecting our nation and our people.”

LexisNexis has a long history of experience helping varied sectors of the marketplace make informed business decisions based on reliable information in an expanding global economy that requires more and more faceless transactions.  The company’s proven technologies are now in use by federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies in the war against terrorism, financial crimes, and drug trafficking.

About LexisNexis

LexisNexis™, is the global leader in providing comprehensive and authoritative news, business and legal information solutions to academic, corporate, government and legal markets, and is a member of Reed Elsevier plc [NYSE:  ENL; NYSE:  RUK].  The LexisNexis services combine searchable access to over four billion documents from thousands of sources with leading-edge systems and tools for managing and evaluating this content.  The LexisNexis family of products includes the award-winning nexis.com^® for the information profession and lexis.com^® for the legal profession, as well as numerous customized products delivering both job-specific and enterprise-wide industry-leading knowledge solutions.  For more information, visit www.lexisnexis.com.

LexisNexis recently was named one of KM World magazine’s “Top 100 Companies in Knowledge Management.” LexisNexis™ at lexis.com and lexisONE^sm are winners of the 2002 Codie Awards sponsored by the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA), which also awarded LexisNexis its prestigious Corporate Achievement Award. The Codies recognize the software and information industry’s finest products and services and honor excellence for corporate achievement and philanthropic efforts.