Internet Security ABC - Maintaining Your Privacy on the Internet

Maintaining Your Privacy on the Internet - Five Things you can do

To Protect Yourself

Protecting yourself from predators on the Internet is very important for your teenager or child as well as yourself. Many people will try to get your personal information so they can have access to everything about you. If they can get your personal information, they can access your financial accounts, your credit records, and other valuable assets. You can be on guard and protect yourself from these thieves. According to the Federal Trade Commission, there are almost 10 million identity theft victims a year.

Five things you can do to protect your valuable personal information are:

Find out why you're being asked for your personal information: your name, email or home address, phone number or Social Security number. If you share these items, find out how they will be protected. Be sure to tell your children to

never give out a last name, phone number, or home address on the Internet. Never send personal information through email messages. Email is not a secure form of communication.

If you get a pop-up or email message asking you for your personal information, contact that company by clicking into their website and not following a link in an email or pop-up ad. If you are shopping on-line, don't provide financial information such as a credit card number or bank account number unless you're sure the site is privacy protected. Look for the lock on the browser status bar or by checking the website URL. If the website URL is https, the "s" on the end indicates it is a secure site. Read the privacy policies. The policy should always tell you if you have the right to see what information, the site has about you. It should also tell you what they do to protect your private information.

Know whom you are dealing with on the Internet. There are dishonest people everywhere but online you can't judge someone's character by looking him or her in the eye. It's easy to pretend to be legitimate businesses so check out the seller before you buy. A legitimate business should have a working phone number and a physical address where you can contact someone in person if you have a problem. Another new way of getting a person's personal information is by Phishing. For example, I deal with Paypal, an online pay system that is connected to my checking account. I am paid through Paypal for several of my jobs and I purchase through Paypal as well. There isn't one week that goes by that I don't get an e-mail asking that I update my information on my Paypal account or that someone has been trying to use it. They then request that you click on their link to go to the site to update information. Legitimate businesses don't ask for personal information by e-mail. Always open a new browser window from somewhere other than the e-mail. Paypal has an e-mail you can forward a suspicious e-mail to and they will tell you if it is legitimate or not. That address is: spoof@paypal.com. I don't even look at them anymore; I immediately forward them to Paypal. I also keep a very small amount of money in my Paypal account.

Free software and file sharing can introduce your computer system to Spyware that recognizes where you go and often connects you to other users who are running the same software. File sharing can allow someone to view other important information on your computer such as records and documents, tax returns, email messages, medical records, and other personal documents. Be careful of opening links in email messages. They could be loaded with viruses or can give a hacker an open line directly to your computer and all of your personal files. Some messages seem to come from names that you recognize but they may just be spelled a little different or have a slightly different last name.

Use and update anti-virus software and firewalls. This is a preventive measure and is important because it could keep you from getting a nasty computer virus or a worm that corrupts your computer beyond compare. Use anti-virus software that is routinely updated for the latest worms or viruses that might be circulating the Internet at that time.

Finally, yet importantly, if you're not using your computer for an extended period, turn it off or unplug it from your phone line or cable modem. If it isn't connected to the Internet, no one can get in.

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ID Theft

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