Basic Tips to Protect Your Identity

It is important for each individual to keep aware of potential new threats to the security of their identity. However, by following some simple steps, you can keep your identity safe, no matter what new technique someone might use to try and steal your personal information.

Protect your password.

You should never tell anyone your password, email anyone your password, or write down your password. Keep it a secret, even from University IT staff (who will never ask you for your password). If you have problems remembering your password, you should use a secure program such as PasswordVault (which the University offers at no cost).

Use strong passwords.

Always use a password that uses letters, numbers, and does NOT use words from the dictionary. Taking these extra precautions can dramatically increase your personal security. For example, a strong seven character password could take a hacker 2.21 years to crack, while a password that was in all lowercase letters would take merely 2.23 hours, according to one researcher. In addition, the University Information Security Policy requires you to use a strong password.

Use different passwords for different accounts.

If you use the same password for everything, all identity thieves have to do is crack one account and then they have access to all your accounts. At the very minimum, you should have different passwords for all your sensitive accounts (i.e. online banking, credit cards, email) and then possibly one weak password for non-sensitive accounts (i.e. photo sharing sites, fantasy sports, news sites, etc). You should also avoid using the same password for University resources and non-University resources. With programs like PasswordVault, remembering multiple passwords is easy.

Be careful about what information you make public.

Nothing makes an identity thief's live easier than when people publicly list personal information. By no means should you ever post to the web any information that could identify you (such as your social security number, your phone number, your birthday, etc), nor should you include information that would help an identity thief learn your password such as pets' names, favorite colors, and high school mascots.

Think about when you set up an account online and the questions you may have been asked to retrieve your password if you forgot it. Identity thieves are constantly on the look out for the answers to common password retrieval questions. Do not make their lives easier by posting such information on message boards, personal web sites, or social networking sites or by answering questions in online surveys or quizzes.