Keep your Private Information Private!

Are you one of those people who like giving out your personal information online? Don’t you care about your online privacy? Unfortunately, many people around the world have been victims of identity theft and internet fraud because of their carelessness and laziness to keep their private information private. Online privacy should be taken seriously; your social media accounts such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn are often the target for these online criminals.  

Online sites gather important information about your identity and this could put you into jeopardy – maybe not today or tomorrow but it will be a major concern for you in the end. Here’s what you need to do to keep your private information private:

• Use a different email account if you want to make transaction or purchase online, join forums and subscribe to mailing lists. This is to disguise your online identity to the people you don’t, so your personal or business account will be free from the hackers. Use different passwords for your personal account and bogus account. Always use strong passwords. Don’t use your birth dates, anniversary or your kid’s birth date. Your password should have letters, special characters and numbers. You should change your passwords every 6 to 12 months. If you think your password has been compromised, change it right away.

• In your social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace, etc.), edit your privacy settings. Take control if who can see your profile. Don’t make your social network accounts your diary. Think about this (and it can happen!): you tweeted that you will be away for a week’s vacation, only to find out you were robbed when you got home.

• Make sure to put your Wifi at home a password so no one can tap into your connection. Do not connect to a Wifi in an unsafe network – always connect to a protected Wifi connection. Also, when you are using internet at a public place, don’t forget to sign out all your accounts when you log out.

• Install a reputable anti-virus and anti-spyware program into your computer to ensure that you’re secured from the virus and the spyware.

•          Watch out for the e-mails that you are not certain where it came from. Do not click links from these suspicious emails.
  
  
  It’s up to you if you take this advice seriously afterall it’s your identity that is at stake. Secure your identity when you are online, who knows, these hackers are just at your neighborhood waiting to strike on you.