| |
| |
|
Security Information |
|
How to Prevent Online Identity Theft
Identity theft rates one of the fastest growing crimes in mAmerica today and the Internet can make it even easier for some criminals to take your good name and drag it through the mud. Identity theft involves criminals stealing your personal information such as credit card numbers, social security numbers and other information, usually to buy things on credit or to empty out your bank accounts. Through your financial liability with your credit cards may be limited to $50 to $500, it can take years for you to clean up the mess online identity thieves leave behind. As with any crime, an ounce of prevention may just cause the would-be identity thieves to leave you alone and move on to an easier target. The following tips can help you avoid having your identity stolen. 1. Never give out your social security number, online or otherwise. No company you buy things from needs your social security number. If you do business on the web, obtain a a Federal Tax ID number to use instead of your social security number. Once criminals have your social security number, along with your birth date and address, they have virtually everything they need to start wreaking havoc in your life. 2. Use a good anti-virus program. One of the ways criminals get your credit card numbers, passwords and other sensitive information is through "Trojan horse" viruses that log your keystrokes and transmit information to the evil doers. The "Bad Trans" virus that has caused so much havoc is just such a virus. 3. Always use a "secure" server when transmitting credit card information over the web and know something about the company before handing over your information. You can feel pretty confident that you are using a secure server if a little lock displays in the status bar on the bottom of your web browser. 4. A popular new way to pay for goods and services online is to "use your checking account just like a credit card". Be extremely cautious about paying this way through the web. By giving a company your checking account numbers you give away much of the information necessary to empty your bank account! 5. Never give out information such as your birthday, marital status, education level or other personal information. This additional information makes it extremely easy for criminals to make themselves appear legitimate when they pose as you. Websites should ultimately only require you to provide your name, email and billing information for a purchase. You should avoid any site requiring more information than that. These criminals prey on people's ignorance and you can usually defeat them simply by making it too hard for them to get your information. If you do find yourself a victim, immediately contact police and get legal help. Do not wait because you feel embarrassed or "stupid" over what happened. Waiting only lets the trail grow cold and limits how much law enforcement can do to help you. (c) Jim Edwards - All Rights reserved - www.thenetreporter.com Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the co-author of an amazing new ebook that will teach you how to use fr^e articles to quickly drive thousands of targeted visitors to your website or affiliate links... Simple "Traffic Machine" brings Thousands of NEW visitors to your website for weeks, even months... without spending a dime on advertising! ==> http://www.turnwordsintotraffic.com
MORE RESOURCES: Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Spyware, This Time Its Personal! First the basic definition of Spyware: It is a type of software which is installed onto your computer without your permission.. Delete Cookies: New-Age Diet or Common Sense Internet Security? No, this article isn't about some new, lose-20-pounds-in-a-week, certified-by-some-tan-Southern-California-doctor diet. It's about cookies on your computer - what they are, why they are there, and what to do about them. Adware and Spyware: The Problems and Their Solutions The Threat10 years ago you could probably have run no Internet security applications and still have come out after a browse of the Internet with a virus and malware free computer, but this situation is no longer apparent. Several years ago, before I knew of the dangers of the Internet, I had absolutely no spyware or adware protection. Personal Firewalls - Secure Your Computer There has not been a time in the history of the personal computer that firewalls and anti-virus programs have been more necessary and in-demand. Today, personal computer security is not only threatened by viruses and worms, but also by spyware - those severely annoying programs that are illegally loaded onto your computer from the internet. Arming Yourself Against Spyware While clicking from site to site on the internet you are likely to land yourself on a website that downloads spyware onto your computer system. Even while using familiar or unlikely and secure web site you run the risk of being infected with unwanted spyware. Is The Internet Over Regulated Today's Internet or World Wide Web is being over regulated.But, are you being taken for a ride, are you lead to believe that Governments World Wide are creating new legislation for your benefit or are there underlying factors that these laws are more beneficial to Governments and big business?First we had the Can-Spam and other laws passed regulating the sending of unsolicited commercial e-mail, that contains false or deceptive subject information, or that is sent from invalid e-mail addresses, but for me, my inbox still seems to always be full of junk mail. How To Clean the Spies In Your Computer? Manual Spy Bot Removal > BookedSpaceBookedSpace is an Internet Explorer Browser Helper Object used to show advertising.Free PC Health Check - find bad files fast! How many corrupt and redundant files are lurking inside your PC ready to cause harmful errors? Find these harmful "time-bomb" files instantly and keep your computer ERROR FREE 24 hours a day!VariantsBookedSpace/Remanent : early variant (around July 2003) with filename rem00001. Dont Fall Victim to Internet Fraud-10 Tips for Safer Surfing The Internet offers a global marketplace for consumers and businesses. However, criminals also recognize the potential of cyberspace. Beware of Imitations! Security, Internet Scams, and the African Real Estate Agenda Fishing on the Internet has come a long way. However, we TechWeb junkies like to call it Phishing. How to Protect Your Child from the Internet When the Internet first came about, it was realized it could be quite the multi-tasking machine. These days people use it for just about everything, from downloading music to checking e-mail, and virtually making the rest of the globe closer all the time. Phishing - Identity Theft & Credit Card Fraud What is Phishing?Phishing is a relatively newly coined term for a kind of method for harvesting information for identity theft. Phishing is quite simply providing a person with false information or credentials to trick them in to giving you their personal information. Viruses, Trojans, and Spyware - Oh My! Have you ever had to call Symantec or McAfee to ask them how to remove a virus? Or have you spent hours online trying to figure out how to remove spyware, only to find out that you did something wrong and now your computer won't boot? I know your pain and frustration with just trying to use your computer without worry. As a computer technician at ARCH Computing Services, I know how hard it can be to pay someone to remove viruses and spyware. Is Your Email Private? Part 1 of 3 In a word, no - an email message has always been nothing more than a simple text message sent unencrypted to a recipient we choose. So all the email that we so blithely send all over the Internet everyday is neither private nor secure. Viruses and Worms: The Problems and Their Solutions History and BackgroundThe virus was one of the first ever threats to computer security. It brought a whole new fear upon computer users. Internet Identity Theft - How You Can Shield Yourself With the advent of the World Wide Web, a whole new breed of criminals have surfaced, posing threats to more than just our material assets, but also to our very identities. Although there are a number of effective methods for protecting yourself from internet identity theft, not everyone takes the necessary steps to initiate such a plan. Behavior to Stay Safer Online 1. Importance of a Virus Scanner: A Antivirus program can help to prevent you from becoming infected with a Virus or Trojan. Remove Rogue Desktop Icons Created By Spyware If you have used a Windows machine for a while, whether it's Windows XP, Windows 2000, or Windows 98, you're sure to have noticed desktop icons appearing from out of nowhere. How can icons mysteriously emerge on your Windows desktop?1. Dont be a Dork - Protect Yourself There are folks out there who use their powers for evil, not good. Let's not give them the opportunity to sneak into our lives and wreak havoc. File Sharing - What You Need to Know! File sharing on p2p is soaring despite the music and movie industryefforts to curb the practice. Regardless of which side of the arguement you are on it is likely that sharing of copyright materialwill continue in one form or another for the foreseeable future. How to Thwart the Barbarian Spyware! Today,on most internet user's computers, we have theability to employ software, along with ourintelligence, to prevent viruses and spyware.To put this article into proper perspective, we'll useMedieval defense tactics.
|
| home | site map | contact us |