Identity Theft: 3 Phases of Prevention

Identity theft is one of the things people are warned about every day by television commercials, ads on Google and computer technicians. On Monday, April 21, 2008 the Chicago Tribune reported that a bowling alley run by Brunswick Bowling in Naperville, Illinois recently had a piece of its security technology stolen. The stolen technology was a scanner that scans the magnetic strip on the back of a license to determine whether or not the license has been tampered with. Upon the scan the patrons Name, Address, date of birth and the License Number is recorded. Although this form of identity theft is difficult to prevent, it is also not that common. The most common form of identity theft is performed through the use of spyware and an internet connection.

Although it is impossible to make a computer 100% secure against identity theft, there are ways to decrease the chance of becoming an identity theft victim. There are three main phases to a household computer lockdown.

Phase One: Common Sense. First and foremost, a user should only submit their credit numbers and personal information to sites they know and trust. Use sites that are encrypted (there is usually a padlock along the status bar of the browser), and never enter this information or access sensitive information from a public computer (like a library, SINC site or the free terminals in various malls).

Phase two: Securing Your Hardware. As of the year 2000, 7.1 million Americans were online through High-Speed connections according to the FCC. Since high speed internet connections are 'always-on' this means that 7.1 million Americans were connected to the internet at about 200 kilobits per second 24 hours a day 7 days a week. This is an open door to even the newest hackers, and the most basic software. The first thing any high speed internet user should do is put their cable or DSL modem in 'Stand-By' mode when they are not in use. This turns off the Ethernet or USB connection on the back of the modem thusly closing the door to spyware or hackers looking to get in or out of your computer.

The second thing a user can do is install a router with an NAT firewall (the Linksys WRT54G is highly recommended, provides easy use and both 'hard-line' and wireless connectivity options). If you look at your cable modem as the front door to your computer, than the router is the screen door, allowing air in but filtering out all of the bugs. This is because the cable modem gets plugged directly into the router, and the router decides which computer the information is supposed to go to. When a basic hacker gets through your cable modem, it will take them as far as the router and from there they will need to find a new way to navigate through your network.

Users that have a wireless connection should also encrypt their wireless connection using a WEP or WPA encryption. This keeps outside users from accessing your network, and makes it difficult for users to open 'air-borne' packets of information they steal while your computer transfers data to the cable modem wirelessly.

Many households only have a router if they are looking to connect more than one computer to the internet using one cable or DSL modem, however, using a router anyway just provides additional security and gives a user the option of expanding their network should they want to later on (newer game consoles allow players to go online for example).

Phase Three: Security Software. Finally, users should place their computer into stand-by when they are not using it. Many computer technicians say leaving a computer on is bad for hardware and security because the computer is getting hot and the 'door' is always open. Other technicians say that with the right software security is not a risk, and the jolt of electricity to the components every time a user starts the computer is no good for it, so leave the computer on. Placing a computer in 'stand-by' closes the 'door' to hackers and spyware, and also minimizes the amount of electricity required to power the machine back up again.

Implementing the right security software on every computer that will be on the network is also very important. Users should have a virus-scanner, firewall and anti-spyware software running in real-time on their computers. The phrase 'real-time' means that the program is running in the background while the user is doing their work. This is important because otherwise your computer would only be protected when a user ran a manual scan.

Finally, run a manual scan using your security software once a week (or schedule it to run). This will make a weekly sweep of your computer and will hopefully detect any form of 'malware' the real-time scanners may have missed during the week.

If your computer is not 'behaving' the way it should taking precautions like placing your cable or DSL modem into standby and running a manual scan of your security are a great precaution.