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I don't know about
you , but I have received
several unsettling emails or letters that notified me of
my
personal information being recently
"stolen" by third
parties, and that my identity may be
jeapordized!
One of
these unfortunate emails
stated:
"Due to a recent security
breach from within our company or an outside
perpetrator, our customer database may have been
accessed and your email address and other personal
information might be shared with third parties. We
apologize for this and we urge you to be wary of any
emails in our name that request your social security
number, passwords...etc etc etc, blah blah blah blah
blah."
NOT
GOOD!!
We
must all face a sad fact, that internet identity theft
is on the rise, and more people are falling victim to it
at social engineers get better at "fooling" people into
sharing information that they shouldn't share, with
companies/people that they shouldn't share it with.
So, the next time you get
online, remember that your everyday browsing habits can
leave you financially broke, homeless, unemployed, the
list goes on. Being educated is the only defense against
the sheer number of scam artists popping up daily,
waiting to rip you off.
Here are some
BAD habits, practiced by internet theft
victims:
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1.)Logging into Facebook without
paying extra close attention to the URL (phishing scams
etc)
When
you log into Facebook, it is very important to pay close
attention to the URL that is in your address bar, when
logging in! The appropriate log in should read:
http://facebook.com, but there are many
"phishing" scams that are appearing everywhere; you
could actually be logging into www.facebok.com, or www.real.facebook.com, as examples.
There are inventive and creative
people willing to scam you of your log in and password,
so they can use yor account for many fraudulent or "not
so good"reasons such as: sending spam emails
to your friends' list to buy crap, deleting your
friends, posting obscenities or spam to your friends'
walls, and much more.
To
avoid becoming a scam of many "phishing"scams, always
make sure that the website that you intend on logging
into, is the correct URL for that
site.
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2.) Trusting the wireless internet
connection at Starbucks (or other hotspots) with
sensitive
information.
Never
ever, ever, ever - trust the internet connection at your
nearby coffee shop, mall, bookstore or internet café!
What I mean by this, is that internet identify theft is
more likely to take place, when someone trusts their
financial data (such as credit card numbers, bank
account information etc) to public hotspots.
It
is not in good practice to check your bank account using
your laptop's wireless internet connection, when using a
public WiFi connection. Your data could be intercepted
by an unscrupulous criminal using "snooping" software
and hardware; not a good situation to be
in.
Always remember, when using a public
internet connection, avoid accessing any sensitive
websites to conduct business such as banks, insurance
companies, finance companies, etc.
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3.) Not
having a professional secure your wireless
internet
One
of the best
things that you can do to avoid internet
identity theft, is have a knowledgeable technician or
consultant, (or the advice of both) to setup the
wireless security profile for you Wifi connection.
Browsing the internet with a connection that has not
been setup with a WPA or WPA password (encryption) is
the least of your worries.
There are many more variables that
have to be taken into consideration to be totally
secure, then the few steps that most home internet users
take, as well as small business
users. Allowing an inexperienced person
(possibly including yourself) to "secure" your Wifi is
similar to unlocking your car door, opening the door,
screaming "TAKE MY CAR", then walking away from
the car expecting no one to take
it!!
To learn how to secure your
connection to safeguard against internet identity theft,
read this for professional step by
step details!
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4.) Turning off those
pesky Windows updates
Those pesky Windows updates. You get
tired of the dreaded pop-ups telling you that "Updates
are available"..it slows down your computer and
distracts you from having fun on your computer! After
all, all you need to do is just turn off those updates,
because Windows will be okay without updates; you have
anti-virus software installed!
WRONG. Windows
Update alerts can be pesky, but
for the majority of "average" computer users (non-techie
types), it needs to stay on. When Microsoft learns that
there is an opportunity (security exploit) for a hacker
to gain control over someone's computer without
permission, or when updates to hardware drivers are
released to fix bugs in certain computer hardware, or to
fix a software incompatibility; an update is released.
Many
updates are critical updates, and should be run in order
to protect a computer from vulnerabilities that have
been discovered, as well as to make a computer more
stable (preventing crashes, blue screens etc).
Always allow Windows to update, to
avoid any future problems or incompatibility issues.
When in question, contact your tech or IT consultant,
but leave this feature turned ON!
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5.) Using easy
passwords for ALL of your online
accounts
I
know, remembering passwords really SUCKS! 5 different
email accounts, an ATM password, workplace log-in
password; too many passwords to remember without
forgetting isn't it? Unfortunately the worst thing you
can do to yourself is to use the same password and/or
user name for multiple accounts.
Imagine if your X decided to hack into your
email account and guess your password? Then, used that
password to try logging into the other accounts that you
are known to have such as your bank? Then, went as far
as to steal money from your account using that same
password?
See what I mean? Using the same password for multiple accounts is
a BAD idea.
Another dangerous habit, is using passwords that
are not secure. A huge reason for many cases of internet
identity theft, is using passwords that are easy to
remember, such as a kids name, a birth date, a street
name, etc. To learn how to create
a secure password that will be hard to crack, click here!
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With these horrible habits no longer a part
of your daily internet routine, you will never have to
worry about becoming a victim of internet identity
theft...right?!!
Happy
Computing!
Jarvis
Edwards
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