What Happens With My Information Once It's Stolen?
Truth is there are many possibilities when it comes to identity theft and what happens with your information depends on which information was stolen as well as what kind of hacker stole it.
Some hackers are like petty thieves and will steel information for their own personal use while other identity thieves will sell your information on the black market. Here's a list of some of the ways that make your information so "marketable":
- credit card information can be used to make purchases or withdrawals
- information from medical records is often used to get treatments under another person's name
- bank information is used to make withdrawals and purchases
- stolen passports are used for travel and changing identity (for criminals and illegal immigrants)
- stolen SIN numbers are for changing identity, securing a job, and dodging taxes
So how do you protect yourself from all of this?
It's crucial to know that there's no one way that can ensure complete computer privacy and safety against identity theft. One technique you can use to keep your information hacker safe with your banks/credit companies and on your computer is to have a carefully chosen password. Hackers often use code grabber software to 'crack' passwords, running random possibilities through the program till they've found the right one. However, to eliminate your vulnerability to this kind of breach you need to combine both letters and numbers as code grabber software won't be able to 'crack' the combination (there are simply too many possibilities).
Other Password Tips
The other thing to do is avoid making your password a name or date of something or someone that a person could guess, like the name or your child/relative/pet or your birthday, steer clear from these.
- don't save a copy of your password(s) in an easy to find place
- don't share passwords with people who may loose or mistakenly disclose them to others
- don't use them online at questionable (un-secure) sites
Other Ways To Protect Your Identity
Always check your bank and credit statements regularly, at least annually. Keep an eye out for any transactions you aren't responsible for and if you do find that your bank or credit account has been tampered with, notify your institution right away and either close or freeze your account and open a new one.
Many people who shop online aren't aware that their information can be stolen from online businesses as well. Only purchase from businesses with clear privacy policies and that offer secure transactions.
Identity Theft Packages What To Look For
Purchase an identity theft package for your credit card and bank account and ask about what kind of coverage and prevention they provide as not all packages are equal. Some will monitor your account(s) by checking your credit reports through only one agency and others don't provide actual coverage if you're charged for taxes or purchases you didn't incur. Be wary of Identity Theft protection services that offer credit recovery by creating a "new identity" for you as this is actually a kind of identity fraud too.
Responsible Business Practices
Ask businesses if and how they store your information and how they dispose of it. If any information is printed on paper it should be shredded at the end of it's use. Businesses should only request and store information necessary to conduct their transactions with you and this shouldn't include your SIN.
Make sure that any information you provide online, over the phone or on site, will not be sold or disclosed to any third parties without your permission (you can also find out about this in the business's privacy policy which they should freely provide).
Make Sure Your Computer Is Hacker Safe
To further protect yourself from identity theft and ensure your computer privacy, you need to keep an eye out for malware, spyware and phishing activities on your computer. While these aren't reliable against everything, you want to get a good software program that can shield your computer from these attacks (you can determine the quality of the program by looking for both testimonials about the software as well as customer complaints about it) and stay up to date on the latest techniques hackers can use to acquire your information and what you need to do to stop them.
The Only Reliable "Password Free" Protection Against Non-Remote Identity Thieves
If you would like to avoid some of the hassle of remembering/losing passwords and you're concern for identity theft and computer privacy is related more to people actually in your place of work or home you can use the new "live" biometric fingerprint scanner flash drives and/or computer mice they have on the market.
With both of these tools, using government agency level 256 bit encryption, protecting your identity and information is as simple as a touch of your fingertip (or the fingerprint of any others you've authorized) to gain easy access to your computer while shutting everyone else with unwanted access out.
Ayisha A Al Haqq is the owner of Bright Star Biometrics, a company that sells a range of fingerprint scanner products that provide superior security and protection against identity theft, computer hackers, car theft and theft of valuables, for both commercial and domestic clients