Identity Theft and Your Computer
Posted August 1, 2011
It is a very scary thought that there is an estimated 10 million personal computers that are infected with many viruses that are designed to steal your personal information and make you a victim of identity theft. Some of the malicious programs that can be found on computers are key logger spyware. These types of programs, once you download them to your computer, put every key stroke you make into the hands of identity thieves.
This includes any Social Security number typed, any credit card number typed, any banking information typed, and any passwords typed. This is the type of software that can go undetected for a long period of time and by the time that it is detected identity thieves has a lot of your personal information. Even if you have just recently installed updated anti-virus protection software it may still not be able to detect this type of malware.
According to a 2008 report there were over one point seven percent of personal computers that were scanned had active malware present that was related to identity theft and it was residing in the memory of the computer. In that same report it showed that only thirty five percent of the infected personal computers had anti-virus software installed that was up to date.
Here are some tips to help protect not only your computer but also your identity.
Make sure that if you are using a shared computer, whether it is at the library, work, or a friend’s computer, that you delete any passwords and personal information you may have put on the computer. Make sure that you do not check the “remember me” box when it asks if you want the computer to remember your login information.
When you check you email make sure that you do not click on any embedded links from anyone that you do not know or from any unknown source if the message says it is from someone you do know. You should also not click on any pop ups. Always sign out of your email accounts completely.
Take extra care when picking out your passwords and make sure that you do not use any public information that smart identity thief can figure out. You should not use your mother’s maiden name, your birth date, pet’s name and others such as these.
Make sure that you empty your cache on your computer often so nothing is left for identity thieves to steal and make you a victim.
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