Neither science nor technology tend to grow through a slow process of accretion, but rather through abrupt, almost cataclysmic shifts that send the infrastructure surrounding it reeling. In just the last few years, support has seen just such a shift. 

The world of support is changing. Technology is expanding beyond the datacenter and breaking out of the cube farm. Like Frankenstein, the mobility and connectivity that we have worked so hard to create has come to life and is roaming about outside the walls of our castle and (in an ironic twist on the old story) living the high life with the villagers, but reeking havoc with our zombie support program (for you hypercritical purists, I am not sure if Frankenstein was a zombie…but he probably had a personality much like your own). Consider the developments of just the last few years:

The Department of Justice released its first report on estimates for Identity Theft in 2004. In terms of on-line forms of identity attacks, the report didn't provide much insight - focusing more on physical forms of theft and fraud. The only comprehensive study that I'm aware of continues to be the FTC report which started to identify the internet as a channel where identity information is stolen and used to perpetrate fraud. Unfortunately, the data is approaching three years old... not that useful.