Keep your Operating System updated To avoid Threats & Vulnerabilities
If you do online banking: If you use your bank account to send and receive money make sure it is not linked to any other bank accounts that you have. This way you can keep the minimal money needed in your online account so that you do not risk having all your money being stolen. When typing in personal information make sure you see the 'S' after the http ( https:// ) in the browser address bar. S stands for SSL certificate which is short for Secure Sockets Layer. You should see this when putting in personal information like credit card numbers, social security numbers and passwords. The SSL help protects you from hackers seeing what you are typing because what you type is Encrypted. But still this does not guarantee that your information is safe because of other vulnerabilities like hackers, key stroke recorders, viruses and fake websites.
A Video about how your personal information is being sold - Dispatches - The Data Theft Scandal Big Brother Big Business another film about Data Mining and the information War If you use a credit card for online purchases: Please have a low credit limit and try to use only one credit card on the internet. So if that credit card information is stolen thieves will not be able to make any big charges on your credit card. If you do need to increase your credit limit to buy something expensive, then you can call your credit card provider to increase your credit limit. This will also keep you from doing any impulse purchases because you now have to make a phone call first to ask for the credit increase.
Warning: If you have good credit and you are financially secure you must take extra steps in order to secure your personal information and finances. One step is to put a freeze on new accounts being open so that thieves are not able to get credit cards in your name. FTC.gov Identity Theft Monitoring & Credit Scores Money Management Education
Temporary Internet files, Cookies, Virus Protection & Browser Settings: It's a good idea to delete your temporary internet files as well as your Cookies, especially knowing that some tracking cookies record every website you visit. This way advertisers can manipulate what adds you see on websites, manipulate what websites you see in your internet searches and also know what kind of spam e-mails to send you. They can also sell this information to others. The Wall Street Journal measured 50 of the most popular websites and found that they installed a total of 3,180 tracking files on a test computer. This is very annoying and intrusive but there are ways to minimize these types of attacks on your privacy. Each browser has a different way of clearing these files and cookies so please learn how to do this yourself so that you can do it once a month. At the top of your browser window look for 'Tools' and then 'Options' and learn how to adjust your security settings (Like Private Browsing, Note: Certain privacy browser settings 'Like Private Browsing' and not allowing cookies can cause some of your usernames & passwords from working). Before you clear the passwords from your browser make sure you write each one down incase you need to retype them in later. Always have at least 2 internet browsers on your PC incase one does not work or gets infected. Privacy Choice
Browsers for the Internet that are Free: Mozilla Firefox - Chrome - Opera - Apple Safari - Internet Explorer Browser Usage Stats Usage Share of Web Browsers Internet Searching Tips Internet Access Tools Computer Virus Malware Spyware Keystroke Logging Trojan Horse Computer Worm Hacker Keep your Virus Software Up to Date because that will also help protect your private information, though it is not a guarantee.
1 in 1,000 Websites are infected with Malicious Software. The moment you visit these infected websites malicious software or viruses are downloaded to your PC without you even knowing, so stay protected and be careful what you click on.
Free Virus Protection & Spyware Protection Software: Security Essentials Avira AVG Avast Trend Micro
PC Problem Solving & Computer Information Protect yourself from 15 Million Malicious Computer Programs Market researchers say nearly 300 billion e-mails are sent each day.
E-Mail Software to help Control Spam Spamato Spam Bayes Get pop file Mail Washer
Google Priority-inbox Email Filter
Stop Junk Mail Annoying Phone Calls Do not Call Get a Human Direct Company Phone Numbers without Menu.
Telemarketing Auto Dialer Robocall (Wiki) Stop Robocalls Reverse Phone Number Lookup Complaint Database Call Them All Mass Calling System Delivers phone messages to thousands of call recipients at once.
I would like to say, “if you have nothing to hide then you have nothing to worry about”, but I would not want you to be too complacent about the possible dangers and scams that are on the Internet or any where else. So please educate yourself, and if you are concerned about something then please get as many opinions as you can and always ask for help. Teaching the public extensively about how and where personal information can be exploited can greatly increase their protection. Criminals and persons that are steeling and manipulating personal information are everywhere, in almost every type of business, legal and illegal. So start educating the young about how this morally destructive behavior, which in most cases are fueled by greed and power, is wrong on so many levels that it not just threatens our character, but our survival. Though the freedom to information is highly essential to our growth, we must know that criminal minds are not going away anytime soon. So back up your data and secure it with a trusted friend or relative. It’s not just about your personal information falling into the wrong hands, it’s more about your personal information never being found when needed. | 
