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Identity Theft Protection
Cyber thieves are constantly looking for ways to steal your personal information to commit fraud and other crimes. According to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) 2008 Crime complaint report,
identity theft was the number one consumer complaint with credit card
fraud being the most common type of identity theft related fraud.
People fall victim to identity theft or identity fraud when their
personal information such as social security numbers, date of birth is
compromised. The bad guys use the stolen personal information to apply
for new credit lines, submit fraudulent government documents, open new
bank accounts, steal money and commit other fraudulent acts using your
identity.
The
damages from Identity theft can be severe and you should be extremely
careful where and who you disclose your personal information to. In an
event where your personal information is compromised by a cyber thief
or a hacker, it can take years or months to repair the damage.
Identity Theft Prevention Tips:
Never
post your personal information such as date of birth or maiden name on
Public websites, resumes, forums etc. Also refrain from posting your
date of birth, full name on social networking sites like facebook, myspace, etc. Do
not send credit card numbers, date of birth and other personal
sensitive information using email or instant messaging. Hackers can
easily intercept data transmitted over insecure protocols. They can
steal and use your personal information to commit fraud. If you don’t know the sender of the email message or an instant message (spam),
immediately delete the message. Do not open the message, download
attachments or click on any links within the message body, as it may
contain virus, spyware or malware that can harm your computer and steal
your personal information. Also beware of Phishing scams, as online
criminals use such techniques to lure people into revealing their
sensitive information. The only way to fall victim to a Phishing email
is actually responding to one. Use strong and complex passwords for all your accounts. For example, email, banking, ecommerce sites etc. Always
check your credit card statements for any discrepancies. Look for small
charges to your accounts, for example .25 cents, $1.12 or similar
charges in small amounts. Thieves do not want raise any bells by
charging big amounts to your accounts as the bigger charges will
definitely attract attention. The idea is to slip the small amounts and
blend them with your monthly statements in a way that will not raise
any suspicious activity. If
possible use prepaid reloadable credit cards for your online purchases.
Both Visa and MasterCard offer prepaid reloadable credit cards. If you are submitting personal information to a website, make sure the site is using "HTTPS" in the Web address and not HTTP. Always look for the "SSL Padlock" icon  at the bottom of the browser. Never
store credit card numbers, social security numbers and even scanned
images of your personal documents, for example scanned copies of your
passport, social security numbers and other sensitive information
unencrypted on your computer. Always
use encryption to secure sensitive information on your computer. (You
can search for encryption tools using your favorite search
engine) Use
a firewall, Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware software to protect your
computer from Virus, Spyware, Trojans and Malware( always update your
Firewall, Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware software) Always download software from the sites you trust. Avoid surfing and submitting your personal information to questionable websites.
Rogue websites can be setup by hackers to harvest sensitive information
for committing identity theft or identity fraud. Update your operating system with the latest security patches. Be extremely cautious when using computers in internet cafes or cyber cafes. Securely erase all data from your hard drive prior to disposal. Use a "Disk Wiping"
tool to securely erase data on the storage devices (e.g hard drives).
This will make the data on the storage device unrecoverable by data
recovery programs. Never give out your personal information to people making unsolicited phone calls.s Use a cross-cutting shredder to shred sensitive paper documents and CD / DVD shredders to shred CD and DVD.
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