Identify theft has been a growing concern across the globe. Along with reviewing credit reports and financial statements for unauthorized activity, there are a few simple tips you can follow to assist the protection of your personal information online.

TIP 1: Create passwords that would be hard for others to guess. Using a combination of numbers and letters has been accepted as a strong password. Implementing an unorganized pattern of capital and lowercase lettes increases the level of password strength. However, these type of passwords can be difficult to remember. Another choice of a password selection is a passphrase. A passphrase is a sentence that you can easily remember. Due to the length and combination of numbers and letters, this provides a very strong password. An example of a passphrase is: "Idrivea2003GrandAMGT". This passphrase is very strong due to the reasons: 1.)numbers mixed with letters 2.)Capital letters mixed with lowercase letters 3.)total number of characters in the password is greater than 10 characters.

TIP 2: When accessing any personal or financial data, use only your own computer. Resist from using someone else's computer such as a friend or coworker's computer. Also resist from using computers in Internet cafes and public libraries.

TIP 3: After accessing any personal or financial data, be sure to log out of a website each time you finish conducting any type of online transactions. By not properly logging out, another user can sit down to your computer and review your information.

TIP 4: Avoid giving your personal information to unknown parties online. Avoid clicking any type of communication with unknown email or pop-up ads. Avoid downloading any software from unknown websites.

TIP 5: Be very careful using free public wireless Internet access. Coffee shops have become popular for free Internet access. Unfortunately, the free access isn't secured. Resist using public wireless connections to access any personal or financial data.

TIP 6: Use and regularly update antivirus and spyware software. In addition to antivirus and spyware software, make sure your computer is using the most current security updates and patches. To learn how to automatically download and install security updates with windows XP, please click here. If your computer’s security is compromised by any type of malware, your information is at risk. To learn more about how to protect yourself from malware, please click here.

Author: Chris Hubinsky, President, HuCor Technologies, www.hucortechnologies.com
Posted by InspireTomorrow.com