People in the modern time loves to be techno friendly and simply their works with the use of internet, E- banking and internet based payments. Although, these hi-tech solutions are awesome to simplify life of people still some affiliated risks are there to introduce big loss due to careless approach. Identity theft is a kind of cyber crime in which a person steals someone’s identity by hacking passwords and devices and assumes to be that person for one or another kind of profit.

In 2012, over 2.5 million cases of identity theft in US made people aware of this kind of cyber malpractice. Still the cases of cyber crimes are going higher year by year.

If you want to prevent identity theft, you should follow these eight tips of securing your identity.

1. Protection of credit report

You should be aware about fraudulent debits with your credit cards so that checking the credit report regularly is an important thing. Moreover, you can enable the facility of credit report text in your phone every time your account debits so that you will know it immediately if a fraud person will debit from your account. Similarly, be very smart while shredding financial reports and credit card receipts etc. Crosscut shredders are good for this purpose.

2. Security of mail

When your mailbox is full of letters, credit card statements and catalogs, it offers temptation to hackers to steal your id. That’s why; you should pick up your mails daily. Also, be careful while sharing personal information on phone, mail and internet based communication the person you are dealing with can be a hacker.

3. Smart ATM usage

During the time you uses your ATM card, you should check the ATM well and avoid using sketchy ATM; it may have been designed for copying your PIN number. Also, prefer to use a free hand for shielding the keypad during the time you enter PIN.

4. Use a strong password

Choosing something short and simple for your own comfort as password and using the same to log in all of your accounts should not be done. Instead of this, you should use a strong combination of random letters, numbers and symbols as a password. You can note down your passwords to remember but be sure to keep them in very private place.

5. Protect your computer

In order to protect hackers from getting access to your computer, use a firewall and antivirus software in the computer. Also, secure credit cards and account numbers with an encrypted password, if needed.

6. Be careful online

Never share your personal details or sensitive information in social networking sites, mail or any other place online. While shopping online, take care while making payment through credit card. If the COD facility is there, prefer that one to secure your account details. Avoid answering every mail you receive, especially those that claim lottery wins, job recruitment where you have not applied and asking contribution for charity etc.

7. Wipe information from computer

Don’t leave any kind of your personal information in a computer you generally don’t use. For instance, after using a computer in cyber café clear history of the day and as soon as you get access to your personal computer, change your passwords. Similarly, reset the computer to factory setting when you are getting rid of it.