Your personal information may be leaked more than you know.
Records with private information such as driver’s licenses, financial documents and medical forms, either in paper format or electronically, are put at risk more than ever before, and more often than not, these risks are not disclosed to the public.
This year, more than 341 individual breaches have been tracked, compared to 498 for the entire year in 2009. But dozens of breaches have been kept from the public eye, delayed in publication or not disclosed at all.
So what can you, as a consumer, do?
If you receive a letter saying your information is at risk, don’t panic. It doesn’t necessarily mean you are a victim of identity theft. You should first check to see what information is at risk. You should then take action accordingly. If it’s a credit card, contact your credit card issuer. If it involves your Social Security number, you should place a fraud alert on your credit report.
Other actions you can take to protect your financial identity include:
• Use unique passwords for each Web site you visit, including shopping and online banking sites.
• Check your bank or retailer’s security measures for online transactions. They should have policies in place to prevent hacking.
• Always review credit card and banking statements when you receive them.
• You can request the three credit bureaus to free access to your credit files to prevent any new accounts being opened with your stolen information.
But the best thing you can do is to sign up for LifeLock. LifeLock will monitor for any threat to your personal information, and will notify you immediately. This includes monitoring for the sale or trade of your personal information, which often happens when a thief hacks into a database or gets information due to a breach.
Call LifeLock today. Receive 30 days free and get a 10 percent discount on enrollment with the LifeLock Promo Code “Defense.”
