It’s tempting to make it easy to for your friends to keep in touch by publishing all of your contact information online. Most people don’t even think twice about including their birthdays on their personal profile, to ensure that they’ll receive their yearly well-wishes. Millions of users include a steady stream of updates and photos, making it possible for the lurkers in cyberspace to know what they’re doing at any hour of the day.
As innocent as they all may seem, many of these actions can put your identity in serious jeopardy. Using a combination of your birth date, address and full name, identity thieves have the ability to gain access to a variety of avenues for using your identity for fraudulent gain. Additionally, recent studies have revealed that hackers can easily guess your social security number through a combination of information frequently posted on consumers’ online profiles, thus acquiring the key to your identity.
One of the first things you can do to protect your private information is to make it more difficult for strangers to gain access to your online profiles. Adjust your privacy settings so that people must request to connect with you before they can view your profile, and only accept requests from people you know. Even if you know everyone who is able to view your information, however, you are not immune to identity theft. In fact, a recent independent study by Javelin Strategy & Research revealed that 13% of identity theft cases stemmed from “friendly theft,” in which the victims knew their attackers. Also, even if you keep your profile “hidden” from strangers, your information is still being published on the World Wide Web. Every time you post something on the Internet, you leave yourself vulnerable to the information being circulated to identity thieves or your information being obtained by hackers. Your best defense is to set substantial limits on the amount of information you share via these social networking sites.
While it is important to take measures to protect you and your family’s information while participating in online social media, your ultimate protection from identity theft is ID Watchdog. By enrolling in our services, you ensure that if someone does obtain your personal information, through whatever means, we’ll be here to detect his or her fraudulent use of it and repair any damage that may have been caused. Limited disclosure and proactive privacy measures are key in social networking, but in the wider picture of identity theft, having ID Watchdog is your best precautionary measure.
Security Bytes Blog
Keep it simple – When it comes to creating your profile and interacting online, do not over-share your personal details
It’s tempting to make it easy to for your friends to keep in touch by publishing all of your contact information online. Most people don’t even think twice about including their birthdays on their personal profile, to ensure that they’ll receive their yearly well-wishes. Millions of users include a steady stream of updates and photos, making it possible for the lurkers in cyberspace to know what they’re doing at any hour of the day.
As innocent as they all may seem, many of these actions can put your identity in serious jeopardy. Using a combination of your birth date, address and full name, identity thieves have the ability to gain access to a variety of avenues for using your identity for fraudulent gain. Additionally, recent studies have revealed that hackers can easily guess your social security number through a combination of information frequently posted on consumers’ online profiles, thus acquiring the key to your identity.
One of the first things you can do to protect your private information is to make it more difficult for strangers to gain access to your online profiles. Adjust your privacy settings so that people must request to connect with you before they can view your profile, and only accept requests from people you know. Even if you know everyone who is able to view your information, however, you are not immune to identity theft. In fact, a recent independent study by Javelin Strategy & Research revealed that 13% of identity theft cases stemmed from “friendly theft,” in which the victims knew their attackers. Also, even if you keep your profile “hidden” from strangers, your information is still being published on the World Wide Web. Every time you post something on the Internet, you leave yourself vulnerable to the information being circulated to identity thieves or your information being obtained by hackers. Your best defense is to set substantial limits on the amount of information you share via these social networking sites.
While it is important to take measures to protect you and your family’s information while participating in online social media, your ultimate protection from identity theft is ID Watchdog. By enrolling in our services, you ensure that if someone does obtain your personal information, through whatever means, we’ll be here to detect his or her fraudulent use of it and repair any damage that may have been caused. Limited disclosure and proactive privacy measures are key in social networking, but in the wider picture of identity theft, having ID Watchdog is your best precautionary measure.