Protect Yourself

• Sharlyn Lauby


• 7 Jan 2010

If you weren’t aware of it, approximately 9 million Americans have their identities stolen each year.  I think that’s a pretty amazing statistic.

Now, I don’t ever want to sound paranoid about discussing my personal information.  I like living in the open, transparent world that’s being created.  But it’s also important to be careful.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has a comprehensive site devoted to Identity Theft for both individuals and businesses.  The link is here.  Be sure to check it out.  This would be a great site to share with your employees so they can become more educated on the subject.

In reading more about identity theft, there are some things I’ve noticed lately that I want to caution people about:

I love free WiFi as much as the next person.  And I get very cranky when places I think should have free WiFi don’t.  But I’m also very careful about the sites I visit when I’m using free WiFi in a coffee shop or hotel.  Chances are it’s not the secure access you enjoy at home or in the office.

Get creative with passwords.  I know, it’s convenient to have your cat’s name as your password or to use the same password on every account.  But that’s an invitation for someone to hack your accounts.  Start using a combination of letters and numbers.  If you need it, there are plenty of password storage software programs out there.

It’s fun to tell everyone where you are on Twitter or Facebook or wherever.  Keep in mind that telling people where you are…is also telling them where you’re not.  At home.  Where all your stuff is.  Get the picture?  So be careful about what you say and when you say it regarding your whereabouts (sorry Foursquare fans).

Think about how you dispose of garbage.  I’m not talking about banana peels and leftovers.  I’m referring to credit card statements and tax information.  Consider buying a home shredder.  If you don’t want to do that, find a safe way to dispose of sensitive info.  I’ve actually worked for companies that required employees to shred everything.  And, I mean everything.  Even phone messages.  I once got reprimanded for shredding a report in the wrong direction (horizontal versus vertical.)  Yes – it’s true and the person who scolded me was slightly wacky but nonetheless…dispose of sensitive materials in a secure way.

These are just a few things you can do to protect yourself and your identity.  Got any others? Drop a note in the comments below.

Image courtesy of psyberartist.

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