Identity Theft Check

One of the most common forms of illicit (if not always illegal) PII acquisition comes from the harvesting of email addresses by various companies in order to send out seemingly endless amounts of advertising in the form of ‘junk mail’.

There are, however, more acute threats to our security that come from electronic sources and resources.

Having our computers ‘hacked’ into or infected with a ‘Trojan Horse’ virus or ’spyware’ are sure-fire ways to lose sensitive information. Hacks and some viruses can give another party access to our computer files and at the very least may reveal our email addresses, our friends’ email addresses, our internet browsing habits and even internet account passwords – all of which can be used for potentially nefarious and certainly nuisance ends.

The worst that can happen from having a compromised computer would be having private files sent across the internet without our knowledge to someone who wishes to use any sensitive information contained within them for criminal activities (such as fraud and theft).

Always be sure to have an active firewall and anti-virus software running when you are online and never download any files or programs from sources you don’t trust absolutely.

Similarly, private information can be gleaned from old and discarded computer equipment that has not been reformatted, destroyed or otherwise rendered unreadable before disposal. Never throw out a computer without first having at least deleted all relevant personal information from it.

In fact the best course of action might be to send your computer to a trusted source for reformatting and recycling, that way you protect your personal data and also help minimise your carbon footprint in some small (but always important) way.