In this age of technology, too many of us trust that what we do won’t come back to bite us—but it will.
It’s sad to say, but so many things in our daily lives—that we never think about—can lead to identity theft. For example, most of us have a copier at home or work. How often do you trade one in for a new one or throw one away? Meantime, you most likely take hundreds or thousands of copies of many different things. Some you share with friends as funny or informative. Some you wouldn’t want to share with the world. If someone makes the decision something isn’t confidential, he or she may throw it in the recycling bin. If it’s considered sensitive information, it’s probably shredded. But this doesn’t protect us from potential harm. Copiers have a record of every copy made. When we dispose of them, many are repurposed or scrapped out. This is when the memory can be salvaged and content sold to cyber criminals.
Have you ever taken a picture with your cell phone and wanted to share it with family and friends? How about sharing it your Facebook friends, who may repost it to their Facebook friends? If you take photos with your GPS activated, you’re attaching a geo tag to your posting. Now those tech-savvy people with less-than-honorable intentions can download your postings and start developing a profile on you, which can be sold in the cyber world. From these pictures, they can tell where the photo was taken, what time it was taken and build from there. Now they can piece together other pictures that may show them your patterns or where you live.
In this age of technology, too many of us trust that what we do won’t come back to bite us—but it will. Currently, your Social Security number can be found in 34 billion (yes, billion) places in cyberspace. One article states there are currently 1 billion objects communicating on the Internet. By 2020, it’s projected that this number will grow to 26 billion. The Privacy Rights Clearing House estimates that some 867,810,607 records with personally identifiable information have been exposed in data breaches since 2005.
Technology is good and we’ll see more of it in our future. Things we aren’t able to think of now will be done electronically. Many of these innovations will save lives and most likely give us a better quality of life. The downside of this is the actions of those who won’t hesitate to benefit at our expense.
Identity theft isn’t people getting our credit card number and spending as much as they can before they’re found out. It’s them becoming us. The most dangerous form is having our medical identity stolen. In the banking and retail world, the transition to digital has been going on for decades. But in the medical field, converting from a paper world to digital is new. Are the firewalls sufficient? Has access been properly developed to make sure only those in the medical profession who need to know will have access? After all this time of doing things on paper, what difference does it make anyway?
How do you prevent identity theft? You can’t. And it’s not a matter of if you’ll be breached, but when. There’s no program that can stop any and all attempts on your identity. You need to be diligent when using the computer and posting online. Minimize your exposure, monitor and manage what you post. Review all credit card statements as soon as you receive them. Use unique passwords and differ them as much as possible. Don’t record them on your phone or elsewhere. Don’t carry important documents with you. Don’t carry all your credit cards with you at all times. Don’t give personal information to anyone who calls you unsolicited. When shopping online, you may want to use one credit card for that purpose only.
Check your credit report annually, which is free. Some you can get more often. One of the most proactive ways would be a service that monitors your three credit scores in a live mode. Also actively track any activity on your Social Security number. You should explore programs that will assist in restoring your identity to pre-breach standard.
Mike Runyan is past owner of Food4Less (now FoodMaxx). He’s a former Santa Rosa City Council member and current president of Skyhawk Village Corp. He’s also an independent associate for LegalShield, a membership program throughout the United States and Canada that allows unlimited access to quality attorneys and identity theft protection and restoration. You can contact him at (707) 484-3663, runyanjm@legalshieldassociate.com or www.legalshieldassociate.com/runyanjm.
