Even with the issues of identity theft and fraud, many people don't think anything about going online. The Internet is a virtual superhighway of information, and millions of people use it for research, reading for pleasure, shopping and communication, among other things. Unfortunately, the bad guys use it to0 - to steal your information.



According to the Federal Trade Commission, it's estimated that over 9 million people fall victim to identity theft every year, and that's just in America. You may not think it could happen to you, but consider this: Did you know that everything you do on the Internet is traceable, repeatable and easily found?

MySpace, LinkedIn, Social Media

Millions of people have accounts on MySpace, and many of them post personal information on pages, blogs and comments. They post pictures of themselves, friends, family and children. They fill out their birth date information without thought and most include the city they live in and/or were born in.

With your name and city, it would be easy for someone to track you down if they were truly interested in finding you. With your name, city and birth date, they can search the Internet for other sites you've been on. Facebook, LinkedIn - many of the social media sites have places for this information, and most people innocently fill it out.

Something as simple as a picture of your car that shows your license plate number can be enough for the dedicated identity thieves and stalkers.

Dangerous Sites

Most know that there are certain types of sites that put viruses and Trojans on your computer: pornographic sites and warez are just a few. However, other sites can be just as dangerous. More and more often, you can pick up a Trojan just by surfing the Web.

Trojans can do several things, but one of the biggest things they can do is build a "back door" to your computer. With that "back door", hackers can get into your computer and riffle through your important - and supposedly secure - information.

How do you stop it? One, is strong anti-virus software, and when you get it, use it - often. Another is to recognize when your computer says something like "this site's certification is missing or incomplete" or "this site certification does not meet its identification". Don't ignore these warnings. Move to another site.

Internet Service Providers (ISPs)

Your computer connects to the Internet through ISPs. Any data you send from your computer to a site, another computer or server has to pass through your ISP, which means your Internet activities can be observed and tracked. Although there are legal, ethical, business or technical issues that help stop this, ISPs do collect at least some information - whatever they need to provide Internet connectivity.

That information, however, contains your IP address and billing information, at the very least. Some ISPs will sell your information to third parties, and sometimes state they'll make it available to government authorities if they're asked. Many countries don't require a warrant for this.

When you select your service plan, find out if you can get a dynamic IP address - an address that constantly changes. If you're seriously concerned about Internet privacy, use library or coffee shop computers to connect to the Internet, rather than a personal computer.

Open Connections

With the emergence of green marketing, tons of articles have come out about turning off your computer before you go to bed to conserve electricity. What you may not know is this can also help conserve your anonymity. Many research computers can now "borrow" little bits of your computer processing speed to help in the research efforts; not a big deal, right? It's helping science.

However, leaving your computer on and Internet connection up is an excellent way to invite hackers and identity thieves into your files. They have at least six hours a night they can work at "cracking" your computer's system to go through your files. If you must leave your computer on overnight, unplug the Internet connection; don't just turn it off on your desktop through a program, physically unhook it.

Security Letters

If you feel the need to buy something over the Internet, never give out more information than you absolutely have to. Before giving out your personal information, look for "https" (notice the "s") in the browser bar, as well as a little lock symbol at the bottom of the browser. These are signs that allow you to know you're on an encrypted, secure page, and your information will only go to the intended parties.

A few final thoughts:

-You only have to give out information you're comfortable in giving. If anybody asks you for more, move on to another site.

-Never answer spam email, not even with a "please remove". When doing this, you're actually putting your email address back into the system for another round with someone else.

-If you go to sites often that ask for an email, create a "junk" email under a false name. Then, while surfing the Net, use that email for all interactions.

-Reject or delete your cookies on a daily basis.

-Use encryption software on your computer for any important files.