Identity Theft: 9 Tips Which May Help
1. Phishing Scams Awareness - these often take the form of e-mail communications sent to your in box asking for your personal information or data. They look as though they come from legitimate companies or businesses and they often cause concern because they mention that some punishment might befall you should you not carry out their recommendations. These sites are looking for your personal data including private passwords and bank account details.
2. Don't click on e-mail links - if you click on an e-mail link you could be taken to a false website run by one of the Internet scammers. Instead of doing this, and to provide extra security, type the address manually, ensuring that you know the base address of the particular company concerned.
3. Install the correct software - there is a host of software that you should consider installing as soon as possible. Many of these are completely free of charge and work adequately well. These include anti spyware, anti adware, antivirus software and firewall protection. The latest operating systems will include some of these processes. It is important that you install it and make sure it is up to date and running.
4. Don't open e-mail attachments - You will inevitably get e-mails, which encourage you to open an attachment. These attachments quite often have viruses or other malware attached to them or within them, which can cause damage to your computer and lead to a loss of data or worse.
5. Never share an e-mail address - If you must share your e-mail address make sure that it is to a trusted source or friend. E-mail addresses, which are given online in any form, can easily be harvested by Internet scammers and before long you will receive huge amounts of Spam e-mail and potential security breaches.
6. Be careful when disposing of your computer - your hard drive contains valuable information, much of which is confidential and personal only to you and your family. These hard drives are often reused by people who salvage old computer equipment. Your data is on there and is at risk of being used. - make sure that you completely erase your data before disposing of your computer.
7. Use only secure websites where appropriate - especially when making financial transactions. Look for "https" in the website address or a small padlock symbol on the lower bar of the web page. These indicate a secure website.
8. Use strong passwords - ones that will not be easily guessed - preferably a mixture of letters, numbers and symbols, and change your password frequently
9. Be wary of communicating ny personal information via chat or instant messaging programs. This is especially true when your guard can be lowered when communicating in a "social" environment.
Related Tags: identity theft, identity crime
For further information and resources on identity theft, internet crime and online security visit the New Identity Theft website operated by Eric Hartwell.
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