Security firm SafeMedia has warned that the use of peer-to-peer software to steal personal information is likely to increase sharply.

The news follows this week's arrest of Seattle resident Gregory Kopiloff for allegedly using peer-to-peer software to steal personal information from other users.

Kopiloff's indictment is thought to be the first involving P2P networks. He is accused of using information on tax returns, bank statements and credit reports to obtain identity information to defraud consumers, banks and retailers.

"Most individuals and organisations that have P2P networks on their computers do not even know that they have exposed their sensitive corporate, personal, financial and health information to identity thieves," said Pasquale Giordano, president of SafeMedia.

Giordano pointed out that this is not the first time that thieves using P2P networks have stolen personal identity information.

Pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer lost more than 17,000 employee records to inadvertent file-sharing by an employee on a contaminated P2P network. The company is now facing a class action lawsuit by its employees.

Naturally, SafeMedia guarantees complete identity theft protection for any computer connected to a government, corporate or university network, cable or DSL modem that has a P2P client installed.

SafeMedia's P2P Disaggregator claims to make it impossible for a computer to contact or be contacted by a contaminated P2P network.

This prevents uploading and downloading of any files to contaminated P2P networks, which are the primary sources of identity theft and illegal file sharing.

"This indictment on an alleged Seattle fraud ring shows what a group of ID thieves could do if they grab your information," said Giordano.

"SafeMedia's P2PD technology is embedded in DSL and cable modems in the home or work environment or as a subnet appliance to protect government, corporate or university networks."

This installation model eliminates any network latency and eliminates bandwidth consumption at a subnet level associated with contaminated P2P networks.