 Don’t be a victim: Safeguard your identity to avoid identity theft
Don’t send vital or private information via e-mail. Keep in mind that unlike websites, e-mail is never secure.
Shield your computer from e-mail viruses. Viruses are often distributed via attachments in e-mail spam. Never open an attachment from someone you don’t know, and if you receive a strange or impersonal-sounding message from a familiar address, check with that person to make sure that they really sent it.
To protect your computer and your network from viruses, follow these tips:
Keep your anti-virus software up to date.
Run your anti-virus software regularly.
Use a firewall.
Update and apply software patches to close vulnerabilities.
Download free software only from sites you know and trust, and don’t install software without knowing what it is.
Set Internet Explorer browser security to “high”
Don’t click on links in pop-up windows or in spam e-mail.
Don’t respond to e-mail inquiries about your account numbers or other personal information. It is called “phishing” when e-mail scam artists pose as representatives of banks, stores or government agencies and send official-looking messages requesting information or confirmation of your account numbers, Social Security number, passwords, and other private information.
The e-mail may be from your own bank or a company you do business with, and may even include a link to a fraudulent website with spaces to enter or update your personal or private information. Phishers also use pop-up windows to try and scam users into entering sensitive information.
Phishing attempts have grown so sophisticated that it can be hard to tell if an e-mail or Web site is authentic. However, keep in mind that a business with sensitive information like your credit card company or Paypal would never ask you to share personal or private information via e-mail. E-mail is never secure..
|
