3 Ways You Unwittingly Let Identity Thieves at Your Data
Even if you have anti-virus, spyware protection, and a firewall, you could still be an easy target for identity thieves, hackers and cyber criminals. Read on to find out how YOU are giving online criminals simple access to your personal and financial information.
You’ve done all the right things. You’ve installed a good firewall, you keep your antivirus up to date, and you’re making sure you keep up with the latest security patches… so your computer network should be {protected|safe} from identity thieves, right?
Wrong!
According to a recent report, 37% of electronic identity theft cases had one aspect in common: they were caused by an action taken by the user. That’s correct, more than one-third of identity thefts were not thefts, but information that given freely!
So how do you prevent this from happening to you and your employees?
No one is 100% safe, but the following three tips will stop you from accidentally handing online criminals access to your computer network and confidential information:
1. Never visit or download free music files, videos or programs from file-sharing sites such as Kazaa. Not only are you downloading stolen materials, but these sites are surefire ways to introduce worms and viruses to your computer. If you are a business owner, set up web filtering software to prevent employees from downloading any unauthorized programs or files.
2. Never respond to any e-mail from a bank, credit card company, PayPal or online store where items are purchased (such as eBay) asking you to verify your account information, no matter how credible or legitimate it looks. These are phishing scams created to obtain your account information.
3. Be sure to ask for ID from anyone requesting physical access to your equipment, and instruct your employees to do so as well. Just to test a theory, I asked a friend to walk into an office, say they are from “the phone company” responding to a problem, and ask to see the network. Access was granted to a complete stranger 100% of the time.
Informing your company’s employees is usually the responsibility of an IT management department or external IT consultant. Contact a IT managed services or corporate computer services firm if you have cyber theft concerns for your business.
Categories: Internet Security Tags: cyber crime, cyber criminals, identity theft, online security, password theft, web security
We Need to Define Identity Theft To Stop this Type Of Crime
To define Identity Theft, one may refer to many different sources but, what it all boils down to is that it occurs when someone steals another person’s name and other personal information to fraudulently use such illegally obtained means of identification information for nefarious activities. It is an act of impersonation that uses another person’s personal information like a date of birth, Social Security number, address, and name as well as credit and banking account information for illicit means. It is also co-option of another person’s personal information without the other person’s knowledge and consent and, using such information to fraudulently deceive others. It is a deliberate assumption of another person’s identity which is most often used to gain access to their finances or, implicate them in a crime. ID theft has been also used for illegal immigration, terrorism and espionage along with changing identity personally. These are some of the most common ways in which one may define identity theft.
Identity Theft First Defined in 1996
To define identity theft, one may look back to the year 1996 when it first came to the attention of the world and, was incorporated into American literary terminology. The Federal Trade Commission was greatly concerned by the criminal abuse of consumers’ means of identification through theft or other fraudulent means. To define identity theft, it needs to be understood that it is physically impossible to steal another person’s identity; however, stealing their identification is possible and, is now a part of a growing trend in white-collar crime in the US.
Some people prefer the definition of identity theft as meaning unlawful exploitation of their means of identification for unlawful purposes. Another line of thought, with regard to the definition of identity theft, proposes that the criminal actually deprives the owner of his or her identity when the thief replaces the victim’s identity with their own dubious reputation. A common thread one can see in defining Identity Theft is that it involves illegally acquiring the personal information of a victim in order to perpetrate impersonation of the victim’s identity.
One needs to define identity theft in all its various forms as the calculating minds of criminals can envisage of and put into action many clever schemes to dupe authorities as well as incriminate victims. Blackmail is also another type of identity theft that could be used against unsuspecting victims. Now that a clear and concise definition of identity theft has been determined, a big step against this criminal act will have been won.
Categories: Internet Security Tags: ID theft, identity crime, identity theft, stolen identity
Review of Ultimate Guide to Home Security
Today I’ve added a full review of the Ultimate Guide to Home Security. This eBook is available for immediate download as is a full comprehensive guide to everything related to home security, and even includes sections on identity theft and home security checklists.
You can view the full review of this 58 page full color eBook by clicking here.
Can you recommend any security related products or services? If so, please use the contact form as we will be interested in hearing from you.
Categories: Blog Tags: guide to home security, home security, home security guide, identity theft, security checklists
