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We live in an asymmetric threat environment. That means a wide variety of danger exists and the harm that can be done to an individual or business is varied and largely indeterminable. Both the source and type of the threats that can arise are difficult to predict. You must, therefore, be prepared on many fronts. Protecting your computer against identity thieves requires that specific action be taken.
You likely store large amounts of personal and confidential information on your computer. The thought that a malicious attacker can gain access to your private information is unacceptable. The challenge, however, remains for you to secure your computer against the loss of personally identifiable information. There are, fortunately, a number of steps that you can take to protect your valuable information.
1.) Choose a robust password or passphrase and avoid giving it to anyone. Passwords should be at least eight characters in length and contain at least one capital letter and one special character. Avoid using words commonly found in the dictionary.
2.) Lock your workstation whenever you walk away. By doing so, the information on your screen won’t be visible to casual passersby.
3.) Install current updates for all of the software contained on your computer so that identity thieves are unable to exploit vulnerabilities and gain access to your confidential information.
4.) Purchase and use a security software package. There are many products. Find a comparison chart and study the features. Purchase and install the one that best fills your needs. Set the program to routinely search for updates.
5.) Consider encrypting extremely sensitive information on the entire hard drive. Any unauthorized individual who steals your information would face difficulty in being able to read your valuable information.
6.) Avoid opening email attachments which could possibly contain malware. It could, for example, install a key-logger on your computer. Key-loggers record your keystrokes (i.e. passwords, account numbers, etc.) and “phone home” the confidential information to identity thieves.
7.) Be suspicious of any attempt to request information from you over the Internet. Identity thieves have been known to replicate the computer screens of a bank, for example. The fraudulent screen is presented to an unsuspecting computer user and he or she is asked to supply their account numbers or passwords. Telephone the office of any organization that contacts you over the Internet asking for private information.
8.) Encrypt any back-ups that you may have made of your critical personal information. Losing a USB or “flash” drive that contains critical information would be a disaster. Anyone who found it could access the information.
9.) Change the administrator’s password that was already installed on the wireless router located in your home. Make it stronger. Choose the highest level of encryption that you can obtain for your router. You would otherwise be broadcasting confidential information in virtually every direction for as far as the wireless signal can reach.
10.) Enforce the same security best practices on your mobile devices that you do for your desktop computer. You otherwise invite identity thieves into your personal “information loop” whenever you log-in on a public “hot spot”. Identity thieves work overtime using a class of software known as “packet sniffers”. They reach out, grab the packages in which your wireless messages are being sent and save them to mine for confidential information.
Identity thieves find a “target rich” environment with computer and mobile devices. Take the necessary steps now to frustrate their efforts!
© Alliant Digital Services, 2011.
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Source by William G. Perry, Ph.D.
