Technology is a double edged sword and you need to be aware of that. Many people that make use of technological innovations never really know the power of it. Although, they are aware of how these technologies can be used to make their life easier they never understand the fact that most technologies have a dark side as well. Internet surely makes life easier and better for everybody, but things can go terribly wrong if you underestimate the darker side of it. Today, online identity theft issues are everywhere and millions of people around the world are being affected by it.
Here are 5 killer tips that can help you to protect yourself from online identity theft issues in a simple way.
Limit Your Information on Social Networking Sites
Social networking sites have taken the world by storm and today almost everybody has a social networking account. However, little did we knew that sharing too much of information on Facebook and LinkedIn would go against us. Hackers try to penetrate deep into sites to extract all the information that we post for our friends and contacts. According to the report provided by Javelin in 2011, people that share too much information on social networking sites are more likely to become identity theft victims than those who don’t share it.
Install Antivirus and Antimalware Software
If you are using internet all the time you need to install antivirus and antimalware software on your system that can allow you to protect your data from viruses and malwares. These viruses and malwares sneak into your system and they sit on your computer hard drive and extract and relay all the information to the hacker without even letting you know about it. Saving your password on a browser can also be a risk that you should not take at all.
Have Strong Passwords
This is the most common mistake that most of us make because generally we use passwords that are easy to remember. Most people use simple passwords like date of birth, name or last name which is easy to guess offering unsolicited access to hackers that penetrate further into your account. With strong passwords you can be sure that you can at least prevent such events and protect your data from being compromised.
Unsecured Wi-Fi
Believe it or not, but sitting in the nearest cafe and handling your bank transactions is not the right thing to do. Most of the cafes and hotspots today offer unsecured Wi-Fi and that offers a better access to the hackers to sneak into your system and find out more about you and your financial transactions. Try and handle most of the important work from a secured internet connection rather than taking a risk at it.
Monitor Your Bank Accounts
Always keep a check on your bank accounts and make sure that you notice smallest changes that are made to it. There are many online thieves that make small transactions from your bank that you might not notice initially but gradually they will end up consuming lot of your hard earned money that will cost you dearly. Keep track of all your bank accounts and view bank statements to ensure your bank account remains untouched.
