Now imagine having your entire identity stolen. Your social security number, business ID number, access to your personal and business bank accounts, retirement accounts – swiped out from under you. Your personal and business cards can be maxed out too. What’s worse, you could lose your client database, financial records and all the work files you have ever produced or compiled. That’s identity theft.
Some identity theft does occur through more “old-school” methods such as stealing your wallet, raiding your files, overhearing you give a credit card or social security number over the phone, or even raiding your file cabinet. However, common-sense tactics such as avoiding public conversations that involve your personal financial information or putting locks on your file cabinets can be used to combat those threats. Internet threats, on the other hand, are much more sophisticated and involve greater “know-how” to prevent them. There are 3 basic ways cybercriminals gain access to your personal information over the web. They are: phishing, email scams and spyware.
- Phishing – Phishing is where online scammers send spam or pop-up messages to your computer and try to get you to provide personal or sensitive business information over the web. Online criminals will typically send messages that look like legitimate messages from your bank, credit card company or other financial institution. In the message, there is usually a web site link where it asks you to update your contact information.
- E-mail Scams – Offers, detailed sales pitches, links to informational web sites. These seemingly harmless e-mails are the makings of an Internet crime. They’ll ask for your credit card information to buy a fake product or to pay for shipping on a “free” gift.
- Spyware – Spyware is software installed on your computer without your consent to monitor or control your computer use. Clues that spyware is on a computer may include a barrage of pop-ups, a browser that takes you to sites you don’t want, unexpected toolbars or icons on your computer screen, keys that don’t work, random error messages and sluggish performance when opening programs or saving files. In some cases, there may be no symptoms at all.
While it’s impossible to plan for every potential scenario, a little proactive planning and proper network precautions will help you avoid or greatly reduce the impact of the vast majority of cyber identity theft you could experience. That is why these are the steps you must follow to protect yourself.
Step #1: Make sure your backups are encrypted
Step #2: Make sure your virus protection is ALWAYS on and up-to-date
Step #3: Set up a firewall and update it regularly
Step #4: Update your system with critical security patches as they become available
Hopefully we acted as an eye-opener to all those who are not adequately protecting their data and computers properly. If you are not doing the steps outlined, your computer is an accident waiting to happen and the most important thing for you to do now is take immediate action toward protecting yourself.