Three Relatively Unknown But Exploited Ways To Steal Your Identity
Protecting your identity does not necessarily end at just shredding documents or choosing strong passwords. Identity thieves can be very creative and can attack where and when you least expect it.
Here are 3 ways through which identity thieves can steal vital
:
1. Unsecured Wi-Fi connections:
Free Wi-Fi in a public place is great, but can also be the perfect location for identity thieves to get your personal information. How? Not all public Wi-Fi networks are properly secured, which can enable hackers to sniff out your personal information.
This does not mean that you should completely stop using free Wi-Fi services. Be sure that you have the right security programs or apps set up on your device. Consider installing software protection such as firewalls, anti-spyware and antivirus software. Avoid conducting any online banking transactions on unsecured networks, too.
2. Smartphone theft:
Losing your phone to a thief is horrible enough. However, this can even lead to another, more dangerous kind of theft on your identity. Using the personal information stored in apps, thieves can easily break into your other accounts and retrieve data that can allow them to cash in.
You may want to install an app to allow you to remotely wipe your phone or make sure you’re taking advantage of the password function on your phone. Therefore, if your phone is ever stolen, thieves may have less opportunity to get into it.
3. Public records.
While you may not be posting much of your personal information online or on social networking sites, your data can still be found on other sites.
For example, some websites have information such as full names, addresses and zip codes that can be available on their public databases. This form of data is often used to verify the identity via security questions.
Being aware of these three areas of possible
vulnerability can help you cover more of your bases. It can be a challenge to secure all potential routes to your personal information, but it has to be done because the alternative of getting your identity stolen is a much worse fate.