How to Protect Yourself from Identity Theft and Online Fraud

Jan. 31, 2012 - PRLog -- Identify efforts of phishing & spear phishing
Phishing problems usually contain provides and guarantees in the wish of appealing people into offering private details before they recognize there's a problem whereas Spear phishing is a focused harm which tries to get details from people who may be at possibility. In either case, the most effective expertise you can assess is a powerful feeling of online doubt.
What to Do: Provide as lowest amount of details as possible when needed. Never provide details unless you understand why that particular detail is needed and what will be done to it.
View out for suspect accessories and emails
Although it is a well known by now yet it is important post that accessories from un-trusted resources should never be started out. Even if you get one from a resource you believe in, you should make sure to have a look at the computer file expansion of the connection before getting and starting it. A lot of people slip sufferers to messages which maintain to be from an official-looking contact from financial institution, your financial institution or any other company you do business with. These messages tell them to log in and evaluation their consideration. Be Careful; It might be a genuine one yet it is strongly suggested that instead of hitting the web page link in the contact, you should have a look at out the company’s web site by writing in the URL in the deal with bar.
What to Do: Do not press. Float your rabbit over the web page link in the suspect contact to see where it actually brings. Possibilities are it's not primarily the web page of your financial institution. Personally get into the deal with of your lender's web page in the deal with bar or a much better choice would be to contact them.
Use secure, strong and distinctive passwords on different sites
If you are using same password to log onto multiple websites or a dictionary word/your dog's name as your password, then this is the best time to make changes in it. However, although you might have a strong password yet it is worthless if it is being used on multiple websites. If any one of them is compromised then you can understand what can happen to the rest.
What to Do: Create a strong password that uses a combination of letters, numbers, caps, and special characters. Service like Last Pass, Keeps or any other similar password manager can be used to generate, keep, and manage several strong passwords for all of websites and services which you access on the internet.
Use Reliable VPN Service
A lot of us are aware of it, few of us use it but the level of security it can provide is still not known to most of us. VPN is not just there to access Hulu, Netflix, BBC iPlayer etc. There’s a lot more than this out there. A reliable VPN service encrypts your traffic hence making it impossible for any unwanted individual to access your data. You can easily connect to a WiFi hotspot with your system; use your laptops/devices to securely connect to the internet and enjoy a hassle free internet life.
source: http://www.purevpn.com/blog/how-to-protect-yourself-online/