Id thieves are desperate now
One PC has been stolen from a TransUnion office in California last month. Needless to mention that furtive information were stored in these computer. Technical experts have opined that the hard disk of these machines are easily accessible by hackers, as they use latest techniques.
Lots of people are feeling unsecured from this incident. This is such a case, nobody can be aware of it in advance. We practice so many methods to protect our identity, but what we can do if this type of crime occurs?
Why don't we start a discussion here! We can post our comments on how to protect our identity in case of such misdeeds.
Well, protecting ourself over the phone and shredding documents
Well, protecting ourself over the phone and shredding documents is one thing. But then we think back to the computer that got stolen. There really isn't a way to protect ourselves over people breaking into homes.
However, perhaps locking documents up that aren't going to be "viewed" again for sometime would help. Getting a small filing cabinet wouldn't help much, but it would stall the theives. A safe could be a better idea.
Also, when shopping online, make sure there is a little "lock" in the lower right hand corner (by the clock). This will prove that you are on a "safe" website. You can also tell this by looking at the address bar; it should read "https:"
There are tons of things we can do to protect ourselves. Not just with credit card statements, and online shopping, but also making sure our wallet is still in our pocket!
-Mike
Wow you know I didn't even know about this story. When did this
Wow you know I didn't even know about this story. When did this occur? Yes, these identity thieves are getting more and more brazen these days. And they are getting away with a lot of these crimes because the companies that house our data suffer from lax security.
If a person could just walk out of a closed office with a big bulky PC, then that tells us something about the transunion security. It is sad that some companies do not care to protect our information with the highest level of security possible. This information is so critical to our lives.
Well there are a few things that the consumer can do to protect him/herself against the consequences of these types of crimes. The best solution is to remain extra vigilant-even if your data was not among those that were stolen.
We must put fraud alerts on our credit files so we can be warned of suspicious activity. We should constantly check our credit reports to see if we can explain all transactions that appear on our reports.
And we can also put pressure on our government (representatives/congressmen) to force these companies to use more security to protect our information. Our government only acts when there is a large outcry or when something really bad happens.
