Today I'd like to cover personal privacy. In today's society, 7% of all homes in the U.S. contain a family member that has suffered from one form or another of identity theft. This number is only anticipated to drastically increase in the future.
To protect your identity you must practice personal privacy. For the average American, making a few simple lifestyle changes can help protect your personal information from being compromised by a data predator.
1.) Buy a decent quality shredder and shred any mail or documents containing any personal information, including "trivial" data like your birthdate. In addition, a locking mailbox is desirable.
2.) Never offer your personal information. Almost never reveal your social security number. Opt to use home address and phone numbers as identity confirmations rather than birthdate and SSN.
3.) Use Tor Browser for online activities. It protects your identity, your location, and your information protected through the use of onion routing and forced use of HTTPS protocol.
4.) Only keep physical copies and original paper documents in a fireproof safe that's bolted to the floor.
5.) Maintain an updated anti-virus and firewall application. After extensive research and personal experience II suggest the use of the current AVG free edition, couple with Zone Alarm's personal firewall.
6.) Use TrueCrypt to encrypt your hard-drive. Create decoy operating systems if necessary to further protect your data. Even though data is encrypted, it's only protected if the computer is OFF. So don't forget to power down when not in use.
7.) Pay in cash and use alias names when legitimate names are unnecessary.
By implementing an following some of these seven simple suggestions can effectively deter and event stop a criminal from stealing your identity. As a rule of thumb, practice common sense when it comes to your personal identifiable information, You only get one identity. You should probably protect it.
To protect your identity you must practice personal privacy. For the average American, making a few simple lifestyle changes can help protect your personal information from being compromised by a data predator.
1.) Buy a decent quality shredder and shred any mail or documents containing any personal information, including "trivial" data like your birthdate. In addition, a locking mailbox is desirable.
2.) Never offer your personal information. Almost never reveal your social security number. Opt to use home address and phone numbers as identity confirmations rather than birthdate and SSN.
3.) Use Tor Browser for online activities. It protects your identity, your location, and your information protected through the use of onion routing and forced use of HTTPS protocol.
4.) Only keep physical copies and original paper documents in a fireproof safe that's bolted to the floor.
5.) Maintain an updated anti-virus and firewall application. After extensive research and personal experience II suggest the use of the current AVG free edition, couple with Zone Alarm's personal firewall.
6.) Use TrueCrypt to encrypt your hard-drive. Create decoy operating systems if necessary to further protect your data. Even though data is encrypted, it's only protected if the computer is OFF. So don't forget to power down when not in use.
7.) Pay in cash and use alias names when legitimate names are unnecessary.
By implementing an following some of these seven simple suggestions can effectively deter and event stop a criminal from stealing your identity. As a rule of thumb, practice common sense when it comes to your personal identifiable information, You only get one identity. You should probably protect it.
