Nearly 10 million Americans get their identities stolen every year. With that, those people may suffer great financial losses and could even get into legal trouble for crimes they didn’t commit.
Avoiding all of that headache starts with being proactive on the protect your identity front and there is perhaps no place where you need to safeguard your identity more than online.
With billions of people using the internet every day, hackers and scammers have ample opportunities to get you to part ways with your personal information. To reduce your exposure, our team has compiled simple tips that’ll help you unlock a safer and better browsing experience.
Keep reading to learn what they are.
Beef up Your Passwords
A lot of people’s personal information is stored on profiles they have with online services. If a criminal were to get a hold of the password to those profiles, you’d be running the risk of them being able to piece together enough info to steal your identity.
Therein lies the value of making sure your passwords are strong and change regularly.
Consider using a password generating tool if you can’t think of strong passwords that are adequate to protect personal information. Also, vary your passwords from website to website so no one password creates unlimited exposure across your digital ecosystem.
Stop Oversharing
Every time you share your identifying information online, that information could be abused. So stop oversharing!
Your social followers don’t need to know everywhere you’re going. The person that’s approving your rental application shouldn’t be asking for your social security number via email.
Exercise common sense when giving out data that’s unique to you as you are the greatest gatekeeper of your privacy.
Be Wary of the Sites You Visit
Fishy sites are usually up to fishy things. Before you stumble onto a website that asks for your address with promises of sending you a free vacation voucher, think twice before complying.
Offers that sound too good to be true probably are and those that are extending those offers are usually in the business of selling your information to marketers or worse.
Install Proper Protection
If your computer is infected by malware, it’s going to be hard to protect your identity. That’s because some malware can read your keystrokes and even leverage your webcam to take photos of you using your computer without your permission.
Leveraging free virus tools like Windows Defender or paid, more robust ones can help insulate you from those kinds of events
Partner With a Data Guarding Service
Data guarding services scour the web to see if your personal information has been leaked. If those leaks are found, you’re notified so you can react before damage is done.
This pricing page should give you an idea of how affordable a partnership with a quality data safeguarding firm can be. Give one a try to discover first hand the value they can provide.
The Steps You Take to Protect Your Identity Today Secure Your Tomorrow
Given that the majority of people won’t experience identity theft throughout their lives. You might be wondering why you should waste time being proactive. Nobody thinks they need insurance until they get into a car accident. The same is true for protecting your data.
The best thing you can do is to get out ahead of issues so you’re never caught exposed.
If you’d like more information on how to protect your identity, how to prevent identity theft, or anything related, we welcome you to explore more content on our blog.
