The steps to keeping your identity safe are simple and low cost.
- Get a shredder and run all garbage that has personal information on it through it.
- Make sure to get the reciept for credit card purchases.
- Shred all papers with financial information on it before disposing of them.
- Shred all bills that are disposed of.
- Don't carry social security card on ones person as if your wallet is stolen you provide the thief with all the information needed to take ones identity.
The steps are fairly simple and doesn't take any special software:
- Don't store credit card, debit card or banking information on your computer. (yes it can be a pain having to type the information in every time you go to make an online purchases but using auto fill programs no matter how secure the software is, puts that information at risk to be picked up by a hacker.
- Before making purchases find out what the websites policy is about keeping client information.
- Never give out personal or financal information out on a non-secure server. Depending on your browser there is an icon that indicates whether a server is secure or not. Read the help information on secure server for your specific browser so you know how to tell a secure server from a non-secure server.
- Make your purchases from trusted or certified sites. Pay pal and other similar services provide certification for online merchants.
- If an e-mail sounds to good to be true or gives an impression of being fake don't give out personal information.
- Be aware of the authentication that banks and financial institutions use for their e-mail and websites. An example of this is an e-mail from Paypal always addresses you by your name that you provided when you registered. Most reputable sites that offer accounts take up such security procedures to serve their customers and to help prevent your information from falling into the hands of a hacker.
