identity theft Combating Identity Theft - Six Simple Steps You Can Take To Reduce Your Risk Tip! Ask your financial institutions to add extra identity theft protection to your account. Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in both the United States and world-wide. According to a U.S. Secret Service estimate, consumers across the country lose $750 million per year through identity theft. Each victim, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center, can expect to spend $1000 and an average of over six hundred hours to clear their name in the credit records. Thieves use a variety of means to access a victim's information. They may steal it by taking it from a business or other institution. They may find a way to bribe or blackmail someone who has legitimate access. They may hack into records. They can even use so-called social engineering to obtain the information from someone unwittingly. Theft or fraud can easily be committed once your information is in the hands of an identity thief. One of the juiciest targets of an identity thief is your personal computer. Your PC most likely has everything needed to impersonate you in nearly any situation. Here are some tips that will help protect your computer (and you) from being vulnerable to an identity thief. Use virus protection software always and make sure it's updated regularly. Most AV (anti-virus) packages have an option to retrieve updates on a regular basis. Make sure that your operating system is kept up to date with critical patches and hotfixes. Windows XP, for instance, can be set up to automatically download and apply updates. Never open a file, click on a hyperlink, or download a program sent to you by a company or a person you don't know. Even if you do know the person, always be wary of opening attachments, even if they "look okay". Only reveal your personal and financial information through SSL (Secure Sockets Layer). You will know you're using SSL when the "lock" icon shows up in your browser window. This helps ensure that your information cannot be seen by anyone while it's in transit over the internet. Be careful what you store on a laptop. Some 95% of stolen laptops are never recovered. Are you ready to have everything contained on your laptop become publicly available? If not, drive encryption should be considered. Delete all information on a computer before selling, giving away, or disposing of it. While it may not be practical, you should consider destroying the hard drive. If not practical, consider degaussing or destroying the information contained on the drive. You may be the victim of an identity thief if you have unexplained withdrawals from your accounts or mysterious charges on your credit cards, you have bills or other mail stop arriving (identity thieves have been known to submit "change of address" forms to cover their tracks), debt collectors have started calling about services or items you never bought and have no knowledge of, or credit applications are denied without an obvious reason. Through diligence and attentiveness, you can reduce your risk of being a victim of identity theft. While you can't eliminate the risk completely, you can cut it down severely by protecting your information as seriously as you would your money. Mike Tetreault is an accomplished developer and systems architect. He is also the managing principal of Macrocosmic Technologies and its PrivacyOnTheGo product line which offers a solution to the security and privacy issues faced by people who use multiple or public computers.