Protecting Your Identity Online
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8 rules to help protect you identity online. online identity theft is a growing problem but there are ways to protect one's self to make sure online identity theft doesn't happen to them.
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Protecting Your Identity Online
- 1. Protecting Your Identity Online BY JON LOYD WIZARDS COMPUTER REPAIR ANGIER NC HTTP: / /WWW.WIZARDSCOMPUTER.COM
- 2. Your smartphone and computer store passwords, emails and other personal information
- 3. Protect your phone and computer with antivirus software More Information: Antivirus Basics
- 4. Use the Windows firewall to block attacks from the internet
- 5. Use strong passwords Numbers: 1 – 9 CApitAl LEttErs &_Symb@ls
- 6. Use two factor authentication where possible ID + Password + Something else Time sensitive codes Text messages SecurID USB dongles
- 7. Encryption protects your personal data in the event of physical theft Even weak encryption will deter most identity thieves
- 8. Lock your Credit Require additional information open new credit lines Experian cedit freeze Trans Union credit freeze Equifax credit freeze
- 9. Learn to spot scams and phishing attacks No one reputable will ask for your personal information via email
- 10. References http://www.webroot.com/us/en/home/resources/ti ps/getting-started/beginners-how-can-i-protect-myself- from-identity-theft-online https://www.experian.com/freeze/center.html http://www.transunion.com/personal-credit/credit-disputes/ credit-freezes.page
- 11. Image references http://www7.pcmag.com/media/images/445346-how-to-use-your-smartphone-for-two- factor-authentication.jpg?thumb=y&width=740&height=426 http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2010/106/f/3/Avast_Antivirus_by_cr1t1cal.jpg https://openclipart.org/image/300px/svg_to_png/169487/seguridad.png http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/SafeWalletLogo.png http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/RSA_SecurID_SID800.jpg http://4.bp.blogspot.com/- _RMfizJiuks/UQ6hxlAKQNI/AAAAAAAAQds/5jB8C9STQ-Q/s1600/teten-govt-security- cartoon.png http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/MoSYS_SGRAM.jpg http://pixabay.com/p-1778/?no_redirect https://openclipart.org/image/300px/svg_to_png/188461/gesloten_slot.png https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1373/1276202472_875ce2a422.jpg
Editor's Notes
- Many people work hard to secure their computers but often forget that their smart phones are much more prime targets for identity theft. They are small and easy to steal. Unlike a computer, a phone is designed to be out of sight when not in use and most people won’t miss their phones for at least a few minutes after they leave it somewhere, a few minutes is long enough for an identity thief to pocket the phone and walk away with it. Consider that a phone has even more personal information on it than a computer and it becomes a recipe for disaster.
- Viruses do more than just delete you data; they can also steal you identifying information from you as well. Think about the Cryptolocker virus for a minute. What if instead of encrypting your personal financial files it copied them to a remote server? The criminals responsible have the ability to decrypt your information at their leisure and the real goal of any virus could just be identity theft or keylogging to get your passwords. It is important to protect your computer and your phone with antivirus software.
- Even if you have antivirus software, a firewall is a necessity for locking away all the paths that hackers and viruses use to gain access to your computer remotely. An antivirus can help prevent damage from unintentional user mistakes such as downloading an infected file but a firewall locks off and monitors all the logical ports of an internet connection that users don’t monitor.
- Strong passwords include three characteristics that most typical passwords lack: Numbers, capital letters and symbols. By mixing in these three items sporadically in your passwords they increase the number of possible combinations and make them harder for identity thieves to guess at with software. Don’t forget about length. Longer passwords are harder to crack. Consider the time it takes to guess the following passwords: sparkjil -52 seconds, sparkjilt – 22 minutes, spark1234 – 7 hours, sParK1234 – 39 days. Considering the exponential increases in password strength just by adding a character make sure your passwords are 10 – 15 characters in length and include numbers, symbols and various capital letters.
- Two factor authentications includes a login name, password and a second secret item that verifies the identity of the user logging in. two factor authentication can be entering a birthdate, entering a code sent to a phone, or entering a time sensitive code generated by a USB dongle shaped device. These ensure that the person logging in in is actually the person who is supposed to have those credentials. For the record, most banks will use two factor authentications. Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook.com can all be configured to use two factor authentications.
- Encryption can be used to protect your computer or smartphone in the event that they are stolen. Encryption scrambles the contents of your electronic devices so that they cannot be read without a special key that you have such as a pin code. If your device is stolen but you have a password on it and identity thief can just take the hard drive out of your computer or hook you phone up to a computer and read the personal data off it manually. The advantage of encryption is that the data that gets read in this manner is scrambled and unreadable. Even weak encryption can deter most identity thieves.
- Freezing your credit forces lenders to ask for additional information when you are applying for more credit. This prevents identity thieves from opening new card in your name without authorization. Freezing credit has no effect on your current credit lines so you can still use all your current cards normally.
- The first tool of most identity thieves is social engineering. This means that they simply ask you for your personal information while pretending to be someone else, and you freely hand it over to them. Most of the time this is not done in person, but by sending emails claiming to be from your bank and asking you to verify your account. Also, by creating fake versions of popular websites to gain you login information. Remember that most reputable businesses would never ask for your information via email, never follow a link in an email that you didn’t expect to receive and be suspicious of sudden changes to websites that ask for your personal information.