Every year more and more Americans are finding that they have become victims of Identity theft. Its become a widespread and unfortunately common problem.
How can you protect yourself against ID theft?
Below you will find some simple steps to help keep your identity safe.
Secure your computer, notebook and smart phone.
If you own any device that can connect to the internet, see to it that it is protected with an anti-virus and anti-spyware program. A recent study by Norton reveals that more than 1,000 internet users in the US are not fully aware about the threat of ID theft when connected online.
The study, entitled “Connected but Careless”, further reports that 4 out of 10 consumers access the internet through their smart phones and 52% of these users are not equipped by even a basic level of protection.
This is truly an alarming number especially since identity thieves are using the internet to execute their crimes more conveniently and in a much bigger level. If you do not have an anti-virus program installed in your computer, tablet, or smart phone, you are exposing yourself to identity theft.
Use strong passwords.
When creating a password, do not use details that can be found on your profile page as these can be easily detected. Create a password with at least 10 characters and a mix of letters, numbers and special characters to make your password strong and difficult to guess.
Based on the report, “Connected but Careless”, nearly half or 46% of people who use the internet admitted that they never change password of their email account while 31% never change password on their baking accounts. Furthermore, 42% never change passwords on social networking websites and 71% use the same passwords for almost all their accounts online because it is easier to remember.
It’s a good idea to update your passwords every once in awhile to minimize the risk of ID theft. Instead of using the same password for different accounts, you should use a unique password for each account, especially with banking and financial accounts.
Log out from your online account after each use.
Even if you are using your personal computer, it is still recommended that you log out of your account after each session. Say no when your browser asks you to remember or store your password.
It might seem inconvenient having to type in your password each time you need to log in to an account but taking this extra measure of precaution is definitely worth it rather than expose yourself to the risk of identity theft online.
Purchase online from a reputable merchant.
Only purchase from websites that have a lot of good reviews. Make sure they are using a strong SSL certificate that will encrypt your information. Be careful of sites that don’t have a good reputation or even no reputation. It might be tempting to buy from a less known merchant to enjoy the lower price but you always have to consider if the merchant is a trusted one.
