As we say goodbye to 2012 and welcome in 2013, we suggest you include some new year’s resolutions to help make 2013 a year with decreased identity theft. In a two part series to kick off 2013, we have recommendations for making 2013 a year you steer clear of id theft.
Here are the first two examples of resolutions you can make to make sure your 2013 isn’t marred by a nasty case of identity theft.
1. Just because it’s a good idea anyway—and can be really cathartic, consider clearing out your wallet: Many people carry items in their purse or wallet that leave them vulnerable to identity theft. Take the time to remove your Social Security card, checkbook, passport, extra credit cards, and anything else with personal identifying information. If you want to take this one step further, make an inventory of what is still left in your wallet so that if it is stolen you will easily be able to notify creditors, take protective measures and obtain replacements.
2. More and more of our trusted vendors are forcing us to do it anyway-so take the intiative and change your passwords. One of the best lines of defense against having an account takeover is a strong password. Take this fresh opportunity to change your old passwords and create stronger ones. Do not use words that can be found in the dictionary. Hackers can run a program that goes through the entire dictionary very quickly and crack any password which can be found in the dictionary. Use numbers, upper and lower case letters, punctuation in your passwords. Don’t forget that the longer the password, the harder it is to crack. Create different passwords on each of your accounts. If you have trouble remembering all of these passwords you can look into using a password manager.
Again, here’s to a safe and happy New Year!
For more information on identity theft protection, visit www.hvshred.com