| By :
William Gabriel
Identity thieves are growing bolder with each passing year. In the United States alone, close to ten million cases of identity theft were reported. This was an increase of 22 percent from the previous year. People are improving when it comes to recognizing identity theft and reducing the damage. But the best way that you can deal with identity theft is to prevent it from happening in the first place. Here are four steps that you can take. Get a Secure ID If you work for a company that deals with sensitive information or your office is located in a government office or in a government-owned building, you may be at a high risk for identity theft. If your company doesn't provide secure IDs like HID access cards to its employees, it's time to print some secure IDs. This can be easily done using machines like ID card printers. Choose a Strong Password To protect your bank account and other sensitive accounts, you should make sure to choose good passwords and PINs or personal identification numbers. Make sure that no one will ever be able to guess your password and PINs, even if they know they know you well or if they can access your personal information. If you must use words and numbers that you are familiar with, you can hide them using a code that is difficult to crack, like the Vigènere Cipher. You can also go online to check out a random-generated password program. This can supply you with a virtually unbreakable or uncrackable password. Make sure that you don't use a single password for all of your accounts. Try for some variation. You should avoid PINs that can be easily guessed like your birthday, numbers that follow each other in a sequence, your phone number, and the last four digits of your social security number. A strong password will include both big and small letters, numbers and characters. It should also be at least eight characters long. Avoid ATM Snoops Whenever you get into line for an ATM, make sure that no one is standing close behind you. If they are close enough, they may be able to see your account balance or your PIN. To make your ATM transactions safe, you can shade the monitor area when you key in your PIN. You should also use your body to block other people from seeing the screen. Do this even when you're alone. Some wily thieves use binoculars or set up cameras so that they can spy on you from a distance. Shred Identifying Documents Don't leave any personal information lying around. If you're going to throw away documents with identifying information, makes sure that you shred them first. Thieves can easily steal your identity by diving into the dumpster in your neighborhood or going through your garbage. Shred any documents with identifying information on them. Don't just throw your old billing statements and other documents containing important information into your garbage. Buy a cross cut paper shredder to ensure that you will absolutely eradicate destroy any piece of paper that contains your credit card number, your social security number, or your bank account number.
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