June has been declared National Internet Safety month. Many benefits can be derived from using the internet, but there is also risk involved, especially for youth. This month, IDTheftNews.com will be highlighting some tips that have been compiled to help educate consumers on the risks of identity theft as a result of online

We now have more accessible and convenient ways to get to information, services and products than ever before, thanks to the progressive development of the internet. You can do everything from buying music to booking travel to online banking.

Identity thieves have progressed along with all of the changes that the internet has introduced. They have ways of gaining access to the contents of your computer which can lead them to as much personal information as your “hard drive” currently holds. So is the convenience worth it?

National Internet Safety Month was started to help make people more aware of how they can make their personal data more secure and less likely to be hacked by internet or “digital” thieves. The website OnguardOnline.gov offers many helpful tips to prevent digital identity theft.

They offer several helpful tips to make your web browsing safer and more secure:

Protect your personal information – don’t give your name, email/home address, phone/account/social security numbers or other sensitive information to anyone without knowing how it will be used and protected. Children need to be taught to follow these practices as well, they are prime targets since majority of them don’t realize the danger behind giving a strange website their name and address or phone number.

When shopping online, be sure that the website you are using to make a purchase or save your personal information is secure (usually indicated by a lock symbol at the bottom or the page or “https:” at the beginning of the website address, rather than just “http:”

Be sure that you know who you are dealing with before giving out information. Many scammers will impersonate a legitimate business website by using emails, pop-ups or website names that sound like the legitimate company. Never respond to email messages that require you to click a link to update or verify your information. This is not a practice most companies use and you should always type the web address of the company into your internet browser yourself or call the company directly to verify the information.

Also, beware of file sharing software that is downloaded to your computer in order to share music, software, games, etc with other computer users. This type of software often has settings that allow others to access information on your hard drive that you didn’t want to authorize them to see.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 8th, 2010 at 7:55 am and is filed under Articles Concerning Identity Theft. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.