As a freelance writer, I do a lot of random writing jobs for a number of various clients on an as-needed basis. One of my clients is in the identity theft field, and I have written about data and security breaches for him for several years now. Let me just say I am always baffled at the ways that a person's identity can be stolen.
Recently, there have been a lot of "data dumps" from hackers on a site called PasteBin. I am appalled at the information that is openly "dumped" on this site. Everything from hacks of individual's personal addresses, telephone numbers, income, etc. One that commonly pops up are hackers that are hacking into site databases and posting plain text log ins and passwords. For everyone to see. An example? Click here.
This is scary. Very scary. Some of these, such as this particular "data dump" that I linked to, does not state what site was hacked. Most do. What if this was a banking site? What if this is someone's email account log in? What if, what if, what if?!
Although you cannot STOP this kind of thing from happening, you can be extremely proactive about it. It is very important that you utilize free services such as Google Alerts to keep you informed of any information that ends up on the internet about you. Google Alerts can be set up to let you know, as soon as it occurs, when something on the internet is posted with a particular search word or phrase. You can set up Google Alerts for your full name, your Social Seucirty number, your email address, etc. in order to make sure nothing pops up online with this information. And if it does, you can immediately contact authorities, the website, and Google to have it pulled.
Identity theft can occur to anyone. In my data breaches for my clients, it can be anything from a disgruntled employee selling medical files to the black market, or a lost, unencrypted company hard drive. A theft of a laptop, a box of files dumped in a public dumpster, or just careless use of people's personal information.
Be proactive about protecting your name. Use Google Alerts to search for your Social Security number, your email address, your name and your address to be notified the minute anything shows up in a public search.
Sara Haley
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