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Identity Theft
Your identity not merely defines who you are but also distinguishes you to all different businesses, organisations and government bodies. Therefore, it is important to safeguard your identity from thieves, otherwise someone else can impersonate you to gain access to everything you possess, either to steal your money or dent your good reputation.
In this article I will be showing you: the different types of identity theft; the bad consequences after your identity has been stolen; and finally, the many ways to prevent identity theft.
Types of Identity Theft
Such illustrations of identity theft are the following:
- Business identity theft, when someone has been using your business data to obtain loans or credit line
- Criminal identity theft, when somebody has thieved your personal data to create a false identity to be used in a commission of crime or mischief
- Financial identity theft, when another person has thieved your personal data to charge huge purchases or to empty your checking or savings account
- Identity cloning, when someone has stolen your personal details to make copy identities to hide from respective authorities
Listed below are the various all-important numbers that form pieces of data of your identification which various businesses and organizations know you:
- Tax file number, used by the government and financial institutions
- Driver’s license number, employed by insurance carriers, utility companies as well as other financial institutions
- Credit card number, employed by your credit card company
- Account number, employed by the issuing institution most notably your bank and membership organizations
- Personal identification number (PIN), used gain access to your bank ATM account
- Username and password, used gain access to your website accounts over the internet
- Birth date, virtually employed by every institutions and businesses
Stolen Identity: What Can Go Wrong?
So what can go awry if someone was able to get hold of your credit card number, tax file number, bank account details as well as other personal information? Below is a list of activities an identity burglar can do against you:- Wipe all of your money out of your bank account
- Open up a new bank account under your name and give out bad cheques from that account
- Make counterfeit cheques using your name and account number
- Take on a loan from the bank in your name , for which you are then accountable for paying
- Go shopping using your credit card
- Open new credit card accounts in your name and then make unauthorised purchases
- Switch the billing address on your credit card so you don’t see the bills they’re running up –which means it will take longer for you to discover that your card has been stolen
- Draw on your personal identity to rent an accommodation or obtain utility services
- Instigate a fraudulent tax return using your data
- Pretend to be you on online social networking sites to cause mischief
- When captured for criminal activity, give the police your personal data –which puts your name on police records
How Identity Gets Compromised
Because of the fact that internet communication travel over a public network, tech-savvy identity thieves can steal your personal data by obtaining access to your data through a variety of ways as below:
- Phishing, where a spoofed email is sent to you pretending to be from your bank or credit company asking you to update your data online. The fake email looks real complete with the bank’s or credit company’s logo and branding which will either ask you to reply your personal details –or direct you to a phishing website where you can type-in the requested data.
- Email Interception, where tech savvy thieves utilize a program to intercept even your private emails –including those which contain your personal data. Wi-Fi Data Sniffing, where a “sniffer” program is employed by thieves, during the time you work in a public Wi-Fi hotspot, to intercept every data you receive from the internet or send via email.
- Spyware, where an unauthorised installation of a malicious software in your computer has occurred. This malicious software is a computer virus that sits in the background, without you knowing, to monitor every one of your computer outings and history. When it finds something of exploitable details it goes online to transmit the data to the identity thieve.
- Phreaking, where your phone is tapped by an identity burglar to listen to your phone conversations and recording information such as your credit card numbers when you place catalog orders over the phone.
- Pre-texting, where an identity thieve calls you over the telephone pretending to be from your bank requesting that you confirm your account details.
- Computer Data Recovery, where an identity thieve gets hold of your computer, either by you losing it or disposing it, and retrieves the stored personal details from that computer.
- Scavenging, where an identity thieve rifles through your business or household trash to find thrown away receipts, account statements and data records.
- Address Hijacking, where an identity thieve fills-out a change in address form at the post office to redirect your incoming mails to his address.
How to prevent Identity Theft
Becoming aware of the risks and consequences is already an excellent start in avoiding identity theft. Hardening your line of defence is now a matter of keeping your personal details secure by considering the following suggestions:
1. Create a culture of awareness
o You can sign up for newsletters or maintaining a safety culture in your business or associations. Being informed whenever there is a new scam or threat is very significant.
o Such websites and organisations that can help you with online safety awareness are as follows:
ü ASBO, Association of Small Business Owners: http://webdesigntek.com/asbo
2. Create secure passwords
o Create considerably prolonged passwords comprising of alpha-numeric, lower and upper cases and special characters (like !@#$). An example of a strong password is s3Cur3&sAf3@21jumPstr33t.
o Do not use familiar identifiers which include birth date, phone number or licence number.
3. Create secure password reminders
o Instead of storing your password as they are, it is a lot better if you store them personally encrypted as a password reminder. In that case if an identity thieve was able to get access to your record, he will still end up getting stuck breaking your encrypted password.
4. Create password-protected user accounts and individual files in your computer
o In this way, even when the identity burglar gets hold of your computer, he will get stuck breaking passwords to your sensitive.
5. Install anti-virus and anti-spyware programs
o This program suite offers a lot of protection and warning against phishing websites, spywares and viruses.
o Some free anti-virus softwares include:
ü Avira: http://www.free-av.com/
o Some free anti-spyware softwares include:
ü SuperAntiSpyware: http://www.superantispyware.com/download.html
ü SpyBot : http://www.safer-networking.org
6. Install a firewall software
o This program blocks unauthorized incoming and outgoing transmissions (like hacking) over the internet.
o Some free firewall softwares include:
ü Comodo Firewall for Windows: http://personalfirewall.comodo.com/free-download.html
7. Practice safe browsing
o When carrying out work at a public Wi-Fi a secure way to protect your data is to log on to encrypted sites. Encrypted sites are those whose URL starts with https: instead of http:
o Be sure to log-off from internet websites subsequently after your work is done.
o Don't forget to scan email attachments, regardless if it came from your dependable friend, just before opening it.
o Always scan USB’s you have used in a public internet cafe before using it to your computer.
o Be sure to check your URL browser. Distinguish if the site is a phishing site by taking notice of the spellings. For example, google.com is not the same as go0gle.com or g00gle.com
o Before clicking hyperlinks, hover first your mouse over to check where you will be directed. If in doubt, right-click your mouse over the link and copy the URL address –then paste it to the search box of the following websites to check the URL’s safety ratings.
ü Way much better is just to install a browser extension like WOT add-on to save you time from checking links out. The WOT add-on shows you which websites you can trust for safe surfing, shopping and searching on the web. This safe surfing browser tool is easy-to-use, fast and completely free: http://www.mywot.com/en/download
o Be aware that there are hyperlinks that are fake –which directs you to another site than is written. The following is an example of a hyperlink that directs you to another site:
ü Google.com --recognize that the spelling is correct and yet you will discover that instead of leading you to Google’s site, you are being directed my website, Webdesigntek site. Hover your mouse over the hyperlink and you will see the URL webdesigntek.com instead. Just what exactly can an identity thieve can do using this fraud link? He can direct you to a phishing site with you hastily not observing.
8. Tidy your email inbox and archives
o Do not store sensitive emails in your inbox and archives folder for a very long time.
9. Shred discarded documents and cards
o Use your shredder regularly. Shred statements, receipts, insurance forms, medical records and the likes –including old credit cards, driver’s licence along with membership cards.
10. Update your software patches
o You've probably learned about security "holes" that turn up periodically. Once they're discovered, it is possible to download fixes. For Windows users, an easy way to update your system is by hitting the Windows Update option under the Start menu or by pointing your web browser to this link: http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/
o Updating your softwares regularly like your anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall and other application softwares like MS Office Suites is a very good practice to avoid being hit by newly created viruses or through newly discovered vulnerabilities.
11. Back-up your data
o Make copies of your files just in case they become corrupted, your system fails or your computer is damaged or stolen. Acquire the habit of accomplishing this regularly, no less than once a week. Even better, set your system to automatically back up your files. Learn more.
o It is a good thing to have a skilled web designer on your side who is knowledgeable of database driven websites and internet security. By doing so you have a tech-savvy companion to assist you in safeguarding your all-important data.
Is This Article Useful?
This article is only the first of the series I am intending to write to touch on “online and offline security”. So if you would like to follow this article series I suggest that you bookmark this blog.
If you think that there are subjects or information that I have missed to include in this article, your input is very much welcomed. Just drop a note.
I hope you have found this article very informative and useful, especially at increasing your business security. If not, let me know how to improve for my next article. Please drop a note.
Thank you for reading.
Author:Joemar Lacson
www.WEBDESIGNTEK.COM
Make money while you sleep. Take your business online!
Love this guy? Buy him a coffee: http://webdesigntek.com/rewardjoemar
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