How to Protect Yourself

About Identity Theft

We talk about identity theft a lot here. It’s a huge threat, we primarily talk about protecting yourself from it and what tools you can use to prevent it. It’s important.

Yet what is it, exactly? How does it work in practice, and how widespread is it? We touch upon it in many of our posts, but if you want a deeper understanding of the topic and how much of a threat it can be, read some of the following articles:

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Data Breaches

Data breaches are both mostly out of your control and a deep concern for your personal information security and chances of identity theft. 

They unfortunately happen regularly, are not necessarily covered in the news, and are one of the leading causes of personal information getting leaked on the dark web.

Here is more in-depth information on data breaches, both how to respond to one and more on major breaches affecting millions of people just like you.

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How to Respond to Identity Theft

While prevention is the goal, sometimes even the best efforts cannot stop identity theft. You might be a victim yourself someday (or even now).

Without a proper response plan, you could stand to lose thousands of dollars and have your credit ruined for years. It’s not hyperbole to say it could ruin your life.
It doesn’t have to. So, what should you do in the event you become a victim? How should you respond, and who should you contact? Here are some articles detailing how to regain your identity and minimize the damage.

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Identity Theft Prevention

ways to respond to identity theft, we hope you never need to deal with it in the first place.

Identity thieves have different opinions on the matter, so protecting your information will be up to you. 

Here are articles to provide you with the information you need to minimize the risk of identity theft:

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Physical Threats

A megabyte of prevention is worth a hard drive of cure. While we aim to point you to the best ways to respond to identity theft, we hope that you never need to deal with it in the first place.

Identity thieves seem to have a different opinion on the matter, so it will be up to you to protect your identity in the first place.

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Protect Your Accounts

Your online accounts are the lifeblood of your online experience and are likely interconnected in ways you can hardly remember. However, this makes them a very enticing target for hackers, scammers, and other cybercriminals. 

They would like nothing more than to get into one of your major accounts (social media, email, or other) and steal as much information as possible for later identity theft.

You can’t let them.

The following articles address protecting your accounts from outside tampering:

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Protect Your Credit

Your credit is vital to your future, and you worked very hard to maintain it. It is a valuable resource you can use when you want to make changes in your life and an important part of many big purchases.

Your credit is also valuable to cybercriminals who intend to use it for their gain and your loss. You need to protect it and protect yourself from becoming a victim of identity theft, which usually involves your credit.
What can you do to make sure your credit doesn’t wind up in the wrong hands? The following articles go into detail on the subject.

Protect Your Family

You might be savvy to the scheming of scammers and hackers, but not everyone is. This can include your family and friends. Your children might not know any better when it comes to scams online. The same goes for family members who don’t use technology much. 

Yet just because they don’t know doesn’t mean they aren’t at risk. Protecting them from threats to their credit and identity may fall to you.

Read the following articles to learn about ways to protect your family, older or younger, from identity theft and additional threats:

Protect Your Finances

Banks protect your money well, but their efforts aren’t perfect. On top of that, your finances are more than your bank accounts. There are credit cards, loans, investments, and more to consider. Your wealth is your future, and you need to protect it as such.

When a scammer or identity thief thinks of your finances, they see their own ATM ready for use. You may have different plans for your savings.

Here are our helpful posts on how to protect your money and bank account from scammers:

Protect Your Information

Your information is yours, despite what scammers (and many tech companies) might think. It’s a hot-button issue and will be for some time to come, but it’s clear everyone wants data for everything. You may want to protect your privacy and information on principle.

Yet more practically speaking, you need to protect your information to prevent someone from stealing your identity. Given how identity theft can lose you hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars, protecting your information goes from nice to vital.

Yet how can you keep your information away from would-be identity thieves and scammers? You can start by following the advice in the following posts:

Secure Your Devices

Whether primarily using a smartphone, desktop, or laptop, you are only as secure as your weakest device. Malware is common online, and many people are not using the security tools, strategies, and programs necessary to protect their networks and devices.

If you’re reading this, you probably want to change that. Yet where should you start? 

There are plenty of threats to worry about that could compromise your devices, so please consider the advice in the following articles: