Perhaps the worst effect of having your identity stolen is the trouble in getting credit or loan afterwards. Forty seven percent of the victims can testify to this while nineteen percent and sixteen percent of them believe that as a result of identity theft, they now get higher credit rates and higher insurance rates respectively. Of course, other than that, there is also the stress in repairing damages.
These figures say that identity theft protection must be taken seriously. More than that, people should start putting to practice ways by which they prevent their identities from being stolen.
It’s not really impossible to believe that with technology like the internet, the techniques identity thieves use to take the information they need from people are rapidly advancing. The internet is a tool that hastens the spread of information. The most popular identity theft protection methods tell you to be careful with what information you release when you avail of online services or use your computer in general.
Scammers are everywhere and they lurk in cyberspace as well. However, there are still websites and online businesses that operate with full honesty. It is your duty to determine which among the many you could entrust information about yourself with. Nonetheless, here are other ways by which you can exercise identity theft protection in the internet:
- Install a firewall to protect your information. You need current and up to date anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-malware, and firewall programs to be protected against identity thieves.
- Install reputable anti-spam and anti-virus software. Most reputable anti-spam software programs today are also programmed to identify known viruses, which could contain Trojan horses as well.
- Keep your anti-virus, firewall and operating systems updated
- Use caution when dealing with pop-ups. This is a perfect place to plant a virus or Trojan programs.
- Beware of hidden file extensions. Windows by default hides the last extension of a file which can be dangerous on your part. The best thing to do is to unhide extensions.
Other than protecting your computer from viruses and Trojans, identity theft protection applied online involve not publishing your IP address on websites or newsgroups unless you are very sure you are working on a secure site.
Online gamers are also advised to log into others’ game servers and not the other way around giving off a precise IP address.
It is also important to remember to always have a backup of the system. Also, hacking and hijacking accounts are only possible if you are connected to the Internet. That means there are fewer chances of these happening if you turn your computer off when not in use. Other than that, when you are not sure of an attachment, do not download it. Making the assumption that it is a virus is always safer.
It is not also advised to play along when you find a malicious program. But, you should always pay attention to virus alerts. Finally, it’s also not safe to store important personal information about yourself in your computer even if it is password protected. You can store it in a CD and use the CD when you need the information instead. This is especially true of passwords, SSNs, tax and financial records.
