The financial disaster that can occur in the wake of having your personal information compromised and your identity stolen can be devastating.  In many cases, people are unable to recover their losses for many years.  I would like to share a few points that can help you keep your personal information private and your identity safe from those who would exploit the details of your life for their own financial gain.

Use a good antivirus program.

I don’t believe McAfee and Norton do an adequate job.  In my opinion, they have not proved to be effective in catching some of the more advanced computer viruses such as keyloggers, which record your keystrokes to obtain information such as your passwords.  I personally prefer Zone Alarm by ZoneLabs.  Zone Alarm allows you to select your sensitive information, such as passwords, pin numbers or credit card information and “lock them up” inside an encrypted file.  It will then warn you when that information is about to leave your computer via the internet and give you the opportunity to prevent it from leaving.  I have also been impressed with the integrated antivirus and antispyware utilities.

Install an independent antispyware utility.
Spybot Search & Destroy comes highly recommended.  It does an excellent job of catching what your regular antivirus software wont.  Not to mention it happens to be free.

Encrypt your wireless network.
The ability to surf the net from our couches or from our beds without wires has brought a great deal of convenience.  Unfortunately, most people aren’t sure how to go about securing their wireless network from the prying eyes of those who would seek out your private information and use it to steal your identity.  This is pretty easy to do if your network is not protected.

It is common for people to encrypt their network with a traditional WEP key.  However, it has become much easier lately to circumvent this kind of encryption.  You should secure your wireless network with a WPA-PSK (or a pre-shared key) with a strong encryption key using both numbers and letters.  This makes it far more difficult for outsiders to gain access to your computer via your wireless network connection.  Contact your internet service provider for assistance with this. 

Be very careful when responding to emails from financial institutions.
It is always safest to deal with your financial institution directly instead of through email or over the internet.  When dealing with Paypal, always go to directly to their website using your web browser instead of clicking on a link in an email.  Scams involving “spoofed” emails from banks and financial institutions have become increasingly common.  DO NOT enter any of your personal information on a webpage navigated to from an email that appears to be from such a company. 

Paypal offers some great information on their website on how to avoid being scammed.  You can view their site here . 

Invest in a good paper shredder.
Not really internet related.  However, the credit card offers you receive in the mail every week are literally ticking time bombs for an identity related crime.  Shred them.  Along with any other sensitive documents such as old bank statements, investment reports, or financial records that would have information such as account numbers, social security numbers etc.  Destroying these documents with a good shredder will help keep the identity thieves out of your trashcan.

In conclusion, it’s all a matter of common sense.  Take these measures to help secure your personal and financial information.  They will fit together to become an enormous deterrent for a would-be identity thief.