What is Identity Theft, How Can It be Prevented

Identity theft is done by unscrupulous scammers, hackers and other cyber criminals. Once identity theft happens, your identity information is used by those Cybercriminals for various illegal purposes.

Identity theft can be a big problem for you because it not only steals your information but those information can also be used for illegal purposes which may create legal problems for you.

There are several ways to prevent identity theft-

Don’t share your personal info

You should not share your personal information with anyone. Never share it through mail or over the Internet by filling in different surveys and forms. Scammers use different methods to lure unsuspecting Internet users to provide their personal information. Mostly they promise various monetary and financial gain for the users. 

Cyber criminals who are engaged in identity theft may pose as representatives from different banks, financial institutions, ISPs, government agencies to steal your personal information. That is why, it is very important to make sure with whom you are sharing your personal information like your name, Social Security number, your mother maiden name, bank account number, credit card account number etc. 

Guarding your mail from theft

You have to very careful with your e-mail inbox. You will often find many spam emails in your e-mail inbox asking for your information. These nothing but scams run by cybercriminals looking for identity theft. Never believe in promise of monetary gain from unknown people. 

Never upload your personal information to websites or online document storage sites, if you think it is not well protected or it’s shady. To prevent identity theft, you should not upload any document that includes your personal information.

Do not install all free software and applications

Even though free software and applications are very lucrative but avoid installing such unknown software and applications. Many free applications contain hacking tools, malware, spyware and other such tools that can collect information from your computer and send it over the Internet. You also need a good antivirus system to keep your computer free from such malware and spyware.

Many cybercriminals offer free software, movies, songs, wallpapers, e-books etc. to use them for identity theft. They plant malware and open a backdoor to your computer. From your computer they get all the files and folders your personal and financial information. With such spyware and malware tools, identity theft becomes easier. 

Advanced System Optimizer or ASO can help you to avoid identity theft. Besides other tools, ASO also offers two very important tools to save you from identity theft. These two tools are –“Secure Encryptor” and “Secure Delete.”

How does Secure Encryptor help you?

It is a simple utility to protect confidential and valuable data

•  Encrypts and decrypts files and folders with a click

•  Protects your most sensitive files, even if they’re stolen

•  Decryption requires a password

How does Secure Delete help you?

This is a dependable tool to delete files and folders securely

•  Deletes files and folders using a method designed by the US Department of Defense

•  Keeps the privacy and security of your system intact

•  Securely deletes the contents of your Recycle Bin

Both these tools will help you to prevent identity theft by keeping your personal information present in the files and folders away from cyber criminals.

Bikash writes for Top Pharmacy which is a no prescription pharmacy that provide high quality medicines from top pharmaceutical companies at a lower price.