Protecting Your Internet Identity

For most of us, the internet makes life a lot easier. We can find the perfect book or kitchen appliance or shade of nail polish on sites like Amazon without ever leaving the house. We can meet interesting people on internet dating and social networking sites. We can pay bills and manage accounts and make investments. All the conveniences in the world are available at our fingertips.

Just as the internet makes life easier for us, it also makes life easier for criminals and identity thieves. With so much information floating out there on the net --and so many people willing to provide it-- for criminals, the internet is like a huge pond stocked full of juicy fish. With just a pole and the right kind of bait, they can catch all they want.

The internet is not always the safe place it seems, and keeping your information, your identity, and your bank account safe from internet predators is hugely important if you're going to do business online. Read on to learn a few tips and techniques for protecting your identity on the internet.

Ignore Emails. Identity thieves get a hold of your information in several different ways. One of the most common is by "phishing" via email. To do this, criminals lie about their identity via email, convincing you to share personal information that they can use to access your money or buy things with your accounts. These emails appear to be from the government, or from banks or other "reputable" institutions.

In reality, business and institutions never use email, pop-up ads, or anything else to get personal information from you. The best thing to do when you receive this type of request is to ignore it-- simply delete this sort of email from your inbox. Worried that the request is legitimate, and don't want to ignore it? Go to the website of the company concerned, and send them an inquiry. Don't visit the website via any links or ads in the email or pop-up. Instead, type in the URL yourself, and go directly to the contact page.

Know Who You're Dealing with. Given the endless number of websites on the net, it can often be difficult to know what kind of person you're dealing with. With a good designer or even a nice template, any internet scammer can make their website look like a legitimate place to make a purchase. Buying for the first time from a website you've never seen before? Be sure to do some research before providing any of your information. Google the name of the site for positive and negative reviews of their service. And if you're not sure, don't buy.

Use Security Software. A surprising percentage of internet users don't make any particular effort to keep their computers safe from spyware and other viruses that can access personal information. Simply using the anti-virus software that came with your computer isn't enough. You need to be sure to keep that software updated, and be sure it has an anti-spyware function enabled. Also be sure to have a firewall installed. It may cost a bit extra to have all of these safety feature in place, but the cost of not doing so can be much, much higher.

Protect your passwords. If you do online banking or shopping, it's hugely important to keep your passwords safe. Don't share your passwords with anybody online (or in the real world), even if the request looks legitimate. If you have to write them down to remember them, keep your passwords safe and away from prying eyes.

Also be sure to choose good ones. More people than you might think use easy-to-predict passwords; and hackers are experts at figuring these out. While it's important that you be able to remember your passwords, it's even more important that they be secure. If possible, choose passwords with eight or more characters, including a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols (random strings of letters, numbers, and symbols are best). Change your passwords as often as you can, and use as many different passwords as possible.

The more you work to protect your internet identity and your accounts, the more you'll be able to enjoy what the internet has to offer. Because while getting everything done online is hugely convenient, losing everything you have in the process just isn't worth it. Surf safely.

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