Identity Theft - Who Stole My Privacy?
That is a question which more and more people are asking.
The incidence of identity theft, computer virus infections and spyware has skyrocketed. The goal of this site is to point you to information, products and services to help you avoid falling prey to such scourges.
We're shooting at a moving target, so this site is under constant reconstruction. In that spirit, we invite you to provide constructive comments about what you'd like to see on it. We hope you'll find it useful!
Email comments to:
Books:
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From
Victim To Victor: A Step By Step Guide For Ending the Nightmare of Identity
Theft From back cover: "Identity theft has become one of the most traumatizing crimes of the millennium. Without expert help it can take years to regain your credit worthiness, your reputation, your emotional health, and your good name. ...From Victum to Victor provides legal education and a comprehensive support system, so you don't have to shoulder the burden of this crisis alone." |
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Safeguard
Your Identity: Protect Yourself With A Personal Privacy Audit From Senator
Jackie Speier, author of the California Financial Information Privacy
Act, Sacramento CA.: ....Just like good privacy laws, Safeguard your Identity puts consumers in control of their personal information. It's a consumer survival guide and emergency action plan that spells out easy-to-follow steps for both avoiding and recovering from ID theft. Truly essential reading. " |
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Johnny
May's Guide to Preventing Identity Theft:: How Criminals Steal Your Personal
Information, How to Prevent it, and What to Do if You Become a Victim
by Johnny R. May, CPP, CPO From back cover:
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50
Ways to Protect Your Identity and Your Credit : Everything You Need to
Know About Identity Theft, Credit Cards, Credit Repair, and Credit Reports
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Preventing
Identity Theft For Dummies Twenty-seven million Americans have been victims of identity theft in the last five years and the total cost of identity theft approaches $48 billion per year (total costs to businesses are $43 billion and the direct cost to consumers is $5 billion). These staggering statistics have prompted security consultant Michael Arata to provide readers with the resources they need to guard themselves against identity theft. Arata offers easy-to-follow, straightforward advice on understanding identity theft, minimizing risk, maintaining vigilance, choosing who to share personal information with, selecting hard-to-guess PINs, determining victimization, reviewing a credit report, charting a course of action, resolving credit problems, reclaiming good credit, and much more. |
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Is Your Computer Vulnerable Right Now?
Did you know that your computer can be vulnerable to attack just by being connected to the Internet? Here's a good site that quickly tests just how vulnerable you are:
Just click on the above link, then click on the ShieldsUP! logo. On the resulting page, find the link for the ShieldsUP! test, and click that link. That will bring you to a page that will test your computer's vulnerabilities.
If it finds any vulnerabilities, then you need to run what's called "firewall" software on your computer.
Firewall Software:
Firewall software is a barrier that stands between the outside Internet, and the private info inside your computer. It is often the only thing that prevents outsiders from accessing your private information.
Windows XP has built-in firewall software, but should you use it? Well, yes, if you don't have anything else. However, this firewall software has its own limitations.
First, XP's built-in firewall only protects you from inbound attacks, and not outbound attacks. In other words, it protects you from rogue computers on the Internet that are attacking your computer. But it doesn't stop rogue programs within your own computer that send info out from your computer.
For example, let's say that your computer has been infected with a Trojan horse or spyware. Well, that infection may be sending your credit card numbers and other private info to hackers! And XP's built-in firewall will do nothing to stop this!
Also, keep in mind that XP's built-in firewall was created by Microsoft. So, a security hole discovered within the Microsoft Windows operating system may very well exist within Microsoft's own firewall. So it's a good idea to use a firewall created by another manufacturer.
One alternative is to use any firewall software that comes with your antivirus software. Otherwise, if you want a very effective and stable firewall program, consider Sygate's firewall:
http://www.sygate.com/products/sygate-personal-firewall-pro.htm
You can try this program for 30 days before buying it.
Anti-Virus Software:
One of the most popular anti-virus
programs is Norton Antivirus. But go to Amazon.com and read
the customer comments for this software:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0002UCJV6/gorillagent/
You will see many complaints about
the stability of this software. If you would like an excellent alternative to
Norton, instead try PC-Cillin:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00068IBZW/gorillagent/
If you would like to try PC-Cillin
before buying it, you can download a copy for a free 30-day trial from here:
http://www.trendmicro.com/en/products/desktop/pc-cillin/evaluate/overview.htm
(Look for the link on the
right side of the page entitled "Download Evaluation Copy.")
PC World provides a detailed review
of the differences between security programs. Here's a chart within that review
that summarizes the differences between these two programs:
http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,115939,pg,1,00.asp
Note that you must let your anti-virus software regularly update its anti-virus definitions. The reason is that hundreds of new viruses are released every month! If you don't update your virus definitions, then your anti-virus software quickly becomes useless.
Spyware Detection and Removal:
None of the current anti-virus packages seem to do a very good job at detecting and removing spyware. There are, however, two free programs that do a good job at this. These are SpyBot Search and Destroy, and the free version of Ad-aware:
http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,22262,00.asp
http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,7423,00.asp
The two programs compliment one another.
In other words, you get the best results by running one, and then when that's
done, running the other one. Here's a chart from the above PC World review that
summarizes the differences between anti-spyware programs:
http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,115939,pg,7,00.asp
