Protecting Your Identity

Identity theft is one of the fastest growing information security threats. Criminals seek to obtain financial account information (credit card numbers, bank account numbers, etc.) and personal information (SSNs, driver's license numbers, etc.) that can be used to create new accounts. Here are some things you can do to protect your identity:

• Don't store sensitive information on your computer in the first place. You can't lose what you don't have.
• Periodically clean out the web browser caches on your computer.
• Never provide account information to a website that you do not completely trust. Also, look for a lock on the screen and https in the URL or address bar indicating the session is encrypted.
• Don't click on links in email. Type or paste in the URL instead to make sure that the website you access is what you think it is.

This page was last modified on: Aug 12, 2009