The "P" Word? You Know, Privacy & Psecurity.

If you read my recent post “Theft of Personal Data More Than Triples This Year“, you may have been left with the impression that the current situation is beyond repair. No need to despair though, as there’s still quite a bit you can do to protect yourself.
I’ve compiled for you a baker’s dozen of simple, mostly cheap, and important things you can do to both shield yourself from identity theft and protect your privacy.

You don’t have to take on the entire list in one sitting. Instead, you can resolve to implement the following tips in groups: do the first group one month, the second group in another, and the third over the course of the following couple of months.

Bonus points and a Good Night’s Sleepâ„¢ to all those who finish the first 12 tasks!

Note: while the first group (identity theft) is fairly U.S.-centric, the other sections are not.

Group One – Identity Theft:
Credit Reports, Freezes & Passing on Pre-approved Credit

• Read Your Credit Reports: Check your free annual credit reports from the big three. Benefits: you’ll know what’s being reported about you; and you have a reference point and resource for spotting suspicious activity taking place in your name.
• Freeze out Fraud : Request a credit freeze from the big three: Equifax, TransUnion and Experian. Read this to understand the pros and cons of doing so first. Benefits: Identity thieves can’t open new accounts in your name if access to your credit report is frozen.
• Pass on Pre-approved Credit: Tell the big three that you do not want to receive any more pre-approved credit card offers. Here’s some good background information on this issue. Benefits: Dumpster divers can’t run up outrageous charges on your pre-approved card offers.

Group Two – Computer Security:
Must-have Software & Keeping it up to Date

• Anti-Virus & Spyware Software are Prophylactics, Too: If you use Windows, get and use anti-virus and spyware software, and keep it up to date. Some free versions are quite good too, and many have an upgrade path to the more “deluxe” versions. Benefits: A secure computer does a better job of helping you to protect your privacy, as a virus and spyware infested computer can siphon off all sorts of personal information, passwords, credit card and social security numbers.
• Firewalls are Your Friend: Make sure your computer has a firewall installed, running, and set to auto updating itself. Benefits: Cuts down on the speed with which malware propagates on your private network (and the internet), and makes it harder for malware to “phone home” with your valuable personal information.
• Swiss Cheese is Great for Sandwiches, Not Operating Systems: Set your computer to update its operating system on a regular, perhaps nightly, basis. There’s no excuse to not run the latest security patches for your computer, whether it’s Windows, OS X, or Linux. Even computer users with dialup connectivity can set aside an hour or two on a weekly basis (maybe on a weekend morning?) when they can schedule the update to take place while they’re doing something else. Benefits: Reduces the number of weak links in the security chain protecting your data and your privacy. And, it simplifies your life.
• Sometimes the Best Things in Life Are Free : Use Firefox, VaultletSuite 2 Go and Thunderbird instead of Internet Explorer, Outlook and Gmail. Benefits: Fewer ports of entry for viruses and spyware, no popups, less spam, and you get more control over who can see the contents of your email. And there’s the added benefit that they’re all free too!

Group Three – Physical and Psychological Security:
Reducing Your Risks and Minimizing Your Electronic Footprint

• Better Shred than Read : Get (and use!) a paper shredder for your bills and other paperwork that contains valuable personal information. Benefits: Helps to keep dumpster divers at bay.
• Just Say “No (Thank You)!” to Social Security Numbers: Don’t use, or at the very least question and resist the use of, your SSN (at least in the U.S.) for identification purposes other than banking, payroll and taxes (this is a generalization). SSNs shouldn’t be used for identification purposes; they’re supposed to be a secret, albeit one that’s hard to keep when it’s stored in thousands of insecure databases. Benefits: Not only do you raise business and their employee’s awareness of the importance of protecting our SSNs, but when you succeed in not giving it out, that’s one less database to have it leaked, sold or stolen from.
• Cash is King: Use cash as much as possible, keep the number of credit cards you have to an absolute minimum and avoid loyalty cards (or at least those which actually reveal your true identity). Benefits: Fewer companies managing your financial data means reduced possibilities of data breaches, and the less data you give data brokers, the less detailed are the profiles they buy and sell based upon your consumer choices.
• Gullibility is Expensive: Be skeptical. if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. Benefits: Phishing scams are far less effective when you’re skeptical.
• You Gotta Keep’em Separated: Segregate your file sharing, video gaming, pornography, and other experimental software activities from the computer you use for your work, banking, and online shopping activities. If you can afford it, use a separate, cheap, sacrificial computer for this purpose. Benefits: A simpler, safer, more secure life. If your sacrificial computer becomes unusable, just reformat and re-install the operating system.
• Diversity in Ecosystems Is a GoodThingâ„¢ : Run Linux or buy a Mac. Benefits: by using a minority operating systems you become almost invisible as a target for viruses, spyware, and other privacy invading and/or annoying programs. On top of that, using Linux gets you geek bragging rights, and Macs are beautiful consumer electronics that “just work.” Take your pick. Quick note: While it’s nice to be able to dual boot Windows on your shiny new Intel-based Mac using BootCamp, doing so exposes you to the same security risks as any other Windows PC.