How To Do Everything With Windows XP Home Networking- P8

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How To Do Everything With Windows XP Home Networking- P8 CHAPTER 12: Prevent Identity Theft and Protect Yourself 329 Protect Your Sensitive Data Online and on Your PC Identity thieves are using increasingly more sophisticated tools to steal information from your PC that will enable them to commit identity fraud types of crimes. From keystroke logging software to so-called social engineering attacks, ID thieves increasingly are turning to technology to steal the data they need to rip you off. Keep Private Information about Yourself to Yourself Almost everywhere you go on the web, you’re asked to tell the world about yourself. Newspaper web sites commonly ask their online readers to register with the site. You might participate in message board discussions, but as part of the signup process, the board may have asked for your birth date, what you do for a living, your annual income, your favorite hobbies, or any of a dozen other bits of information an identity thief could use against you. Instant messaging programs (which we covered in Chapter 10) also provide a venue for you to spill the beans to ID criminals in their “personal profiles” sections. When asked for sensitive data—your mother’s maiden name, your SSN, your birthday, where you live or work, your phone number, or any other personally identifiable information—don’t be a pushover. You can, and should, vigorously question anyone who asks you for this kind of very sensitive information. Even the social security administration advises people who are asked for their social security 12 number to ask why it’s needed, what it’ll be used for, what happens if you refuse to turn it over, and what law requires that company to ask you for it. It’s not easy for some people to say no to these kinds of requests. In fact, when asked by the folks who run cash registers in stores, people give up details like their address so often that the clerks who ask for this kind of information are usually surprised when you just say no. Frankly, when this happens, I find the puzzled look on a cashier’s face hilarious. But if you find it irresistible to tell the world about every detail of your life, resist that urge; it’s going to get you in a lot of trouble in the long run. Except in very specific circumstances (such as when the store is going to deliver something to your house), no business needs to know that much about you. And if you’ve already posted some or all of this stuff online somewhere, it’s not too late to take it down. Delete your profile details today. Get that stuff off the Web!Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. 330 How to Do Everything with Windows XP Home Networking Perform “Vanity Searches” and Unlist Yourself Ever Google yourself, just for fun? Sometimes you can find some pretty interesting stuff about yourself (see Figure 12-8). While it may seem cool at the time, there’s a catch: identity thieves can and do use this kind of information for nefarious purposes, too. Maybe your employer lists the company directory online, and that photo of you at a charity event that ended up in the local paper is cached somewhere, too. If you attend college or graduated since 1990, there might be a lot more information about you than you realize, including your social security number, your name, and FIGURE 12-8 Vanity searches typically turn up lots of odd results.Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. CHAPTER 12: Prevent Identity Theft and Protect Yourself 331 a photograph. Some military officers’ promotion notices, for example, are published in the Federal Register—which is also mirrored to the Web—and include those officers’ social security numbers. It’s worth the effort to try to get the most damaging information taken offline. What kinds of things should you search for? Court records, especially those from civil courts, are increasingly published online. If you’ve sued someone, or if you’ve been sued, contact the courthouse to find out if their records are online. Buying real estate also puts your personal information in a public record that ...