how can we...?

Question

protect ourselves from the violation of identity theft?

Answer 1

There are a multitude of ways your identity could get stolen online.

I'll try to walk you through a few and how to prevent them.

1. Never reveal your Identity on the Internet. Especially on webforums, online chat, dodgy websites that demand registration etc. For websites that do need you ID, only use reputable ones.

2. Beware of phishing emails. These are unsolicited emails that look and feel graphical wise to that of legitimate websites such as your bank, paypal, ebay etc asking you to enter your ID, password and other detail. Banks never send such emails and for paypal and ebay, make sure that the web address matches that of the site you are trying to visit. In short pay extra caution when following links from emails. One additional layer of security might be to keep your financial and personal emails separate. Get alternate email ID for each task group.

3. Keyloggers/rootkits: Keyloggers are pieces of software that captures your keystrokes which may contain passwords, financial data etc and sends them to a remote server or saves them on your computer. A keylogger can be installed as part of a virus/trojan that infected your computer or can be installed by anyone having access to a computer that you use. A keylogger can be hard to detect on a computer. The safest way not get bitten by a keylogger or rootkit is to boot from a live CD http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download

since this is not always practical, its is advisable to keep your operating system well managed. The ideal way is to reinstall windows, install Antivirus, antispyware and then go about installing the rest of the applications you need. Also when setting up and using your computer, use an account that has not administrator privileges. This is to avoid the accidental installation of malicious software. It is also advisable to set up a different account for each user of your computer. You can do these tasks by going to the user accounts section of control panel. Also never enter sensitive data on public computer terminals.

4. Wireless networks: Wireless networks are like invitations for your neighborhood wannabe hacker to play around your private space. The majority of wireless networks are not safe. Wireless network security comes in many guises. The only one with offers a acceptable level of security is WPA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi_Protected_Access
If you have a wireless network, set it up for WPA. If your technician i s lazy, he/she'll probably leave you at the mercy of WEP needless to say, WEP is very hacker friendly and easy to hack into.

5. Secure browsing habits: Internet explorer is not safe. Period. There are so many unfixed security flaws in IE that its not even true.

Use firefox.
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/
Firefox is very secure and user friendly. Once you have firefox installed, install adblock plus from within firefox
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865
adblock plus block all annoying and dangerous advertisement.

There's a hell lot more of tips and common sense stuff that i've probably missed. But I think this is a good start.

Answer 2

Remember: just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.

. Don't send in an email anything you wouldn't be willing to have posted on a public 50-foot-wide by 25-foot-tall billboard.

. Don't do anything whatsoever online that reveals any part of your identity.

. Carry all cards containing metallic identity strips inside of a piece of aluminum foil so that they may not be seen by nearby identity theft scanners.

. Do not mail identity-containing paper mail: hand-deliver.

. Shred all snail mail containing personally identifiable information, including junk mail.

. When upgrading your computer, completely destroy, to oblivion, the hard drive, and dispose of the pieces in separate locations.