READER'S ROCK LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE VOL 2 ISSUE 4 NOVEMBER 2014 Vol. 1 Issue 7 January 2014 | Page 13
A resolution you
keep all year:
The one-day
identity checkup
(BPT) - Exercise. Lose the weight.
Answer every incoming email.
Those are the hard kinds of New Year's
resolutions, because you have to think
about them every day for the rest of the
year. Many are forgotten long before
Valentine's Day.
But here's one important resolution, one
you can fulfill today and easily keep all
year: protect your identity.
Identity theft is a fast-growing crime, but
there are ways to reduce your chances of
being a victim. The identity theft
protection experts at LifeLock
recommend doing these five quick things
today to help keep your identity safer all
year long:
Use safe passwords
Are you among the people who use simple
passwords like "123456" or "qwerty" or
"abc123" to protect your personal
information? Or even the word
"password" itself? Many people do, so
identity thieves can often break in just by
trying the most popular passwords.
Stop using the same password for every
account. Several big companies and
websites have recently had their users'
personal information stolen by hackers. If
your password for one site is
compromised, and you use the same
password for your bank and credit
accounts, it's much easier for a thief to get
into all of them.
At least have a different password for
each account that has personal or
financial information. And consider using
a password-management program, which
lets you set more cryptic passwords for
each site you visit and control them with
one master password.
Stash that Social Security card
Do you carry your Social Security card in
your purse or wallet? Don't.
You may, on a rare occasion, need to show
a Social Security card to an employer or a
government agency. Aside from those
days, keep it locked up in a safe place.
Your Social Security number is a thief's
ticket to everything from opening new
accounts in your name to stealing your
tax refund. Don't run the risk of losing it.
To create a safer password, avoid using
words that are in the dictionary. And stay
away from your own personal
information, like a nickname, pet's name
or birthdate. One option is to come up
with a memorable phrase that includes
numbers and symbols, and use the first
letter of each word. "My Tigers are
Number One in Football!" might become
"MTaN1iF!" - a good example because it
uses capital letters, lower-case letters, a
number and a symbol.
Do your bank statements, credit card bills
and utility invoices arrive by mail? If
your mailbox is outside your house,
thieves can take those bills and collect
personal information that helps them
steal your identity. And once those
documents are in your house and no
longer needed, they can be stolen from a
trash can or recycling bin.
Use multiple passwords
First, if your mail is delivered outside
Protect your mail
your home, install a locked mailbox. And
use a shredder, or the shredding services
offered by local shipping stores and some
credit unions, to destroy documents once
they're no longer needed.
But you can also take steps to keep that
paperwork from ever arriving at your
home in the first place. Have bills sent to
you electronically; you'll get them by
email, save paper, reduce clutter and
never have to worry about stolen mail or
shredding. Opt out of credit card and
insurance offers by visiting
www.optoutprescreen.com. And
dramatically reduce the amount of
unsolicited mail you receive by opting out
of junk mail at www.dmachoice.org.
Be prepared for a loss
If your wallet or purse is stolen, you'll
want to cancel all of your credit and debit
cards before they can be misused. Keep a
copy of each of your cards, or use a
digital wallet program like LifeLock
Wallet, which is available for your
smartphone from the iOS and Android
app stores. It gives you instant access to
copies of your cards and also helps you
track your balances, monitor transactions
and cancel cards that are lost or stolen.
Do these things today and you can
proudly declare that you'll keep at least
one New Year's resolution all year long:
Protecting your identity.
You can learn more about identity theft,
and ways to keep you and your family
safe, from the Federal Trade Commission
at www.consumer.ftc.gov and from
LifeLock at
www.LifeLock.com/education.
Keeping You Safe....