Identity Theft – 3 Holes to Plug

“There is a hole in your security.”

No Way! It is not possible

You have installed the best antivirus, a root-kit scanner, and a sandbox. You even look for https and padlock before sending information on the internet, have seen even the processes to find key loggers, installed a firewall, and have done everything needed to protect your PC from outer-world infiltration. Now no one from the Internet can breach your security.

“But, have you protected your PC against breach from inside of your office and home?”

Stay with me a little longer, and I will tell you how you can protect your PC from your neighbors, and colleagues.

3 security holes to plug

Put a strong password on your system

It is not just the people on the Internet that pose threat to your identity security. It is also people around you in your office who pose threat. Have you ever thought what happens to you when you leave your desk for 10 minutes? And do you have any way to know if someone accesses your system in your absence?

The answers to both the questions are big resounding NO. And I also don’t say that you will have an idea after reading this. But, after creating a strong password and locking your system every time you leave your desk, you will succeed in keeping identity thieves away from your data.

It is in your favor to create a strong password for your computer’s login, and lock the computer whenever you are not in front of it.

Encrypted data

What kind of encryption do you use for your data stored on your system? None?

This is not surprising. Most of us do not use any encryption program to encrypt data on local computer. Even those who swear by https and padlock on the Internet do not use any data encryption on their hard disks.

Form a new habit, and start using data encryption on your PC as well. There are many free as well as paid applications available that will help you do that.

Password protection

Do you put passwords in your files? And do you have any software to password-protect your folders? If answers to these questions are no then you need to work on changing the answer.

Install software that will help you put password on the folders that have critical data, and you should also make this habit to set password to every document that has person information in it.

These are the things that you need to do to protect your identity from local thieves who can anytime have access to your PC. It is better to apply these tips then to look suspiciously at everyone who accesses your PC.