I want your info!

One of the biggest problems facing the modern traveler is identity theft.  This is a term which means someone else has gotten enough personal information about you to profit by pretending to be you.  It can be anything from buying an RV in your name to sending inappropriate emails to your family or coworkers.

There are a few crucial pieces of information you should protect at all costs.  These are: Social Security Number, Birth Certificate. Passport, Drivers License

With one or more of these items it becomes much easier to go shopping and stick you with the bill.  Don’t make it easy for the crooks!

Other important things to protect include your checkbook (with your bank information on it), keys, USB drive or other computer storage with private information, family information, and passwords.  Let’s look at these one at a time:

Checkbook – those innocent looking numbers at the bottom of your check are account and routing numbers for your bank account and the starting place for many types of theft.

Keys – The last thing you want is for a crook to be waiting for you when you get home and even for them to go through all your private information while you are gone.  Keep sensitive information in a small safe hidden in your home and files in the computer encrypted with a safe system.

USB drive – If a thief gets in to your computer there will only be a certain length of time to sort through your information.  If it is on an easily stolen media such as a USB drive then they can just take it and work on it at their leisure.  The same is true of laptops and desktops.  Don’t let the computer remember your passwords because it would be an open door should your computer be stolen.

Family information – Perhaps the most frightening though is for someone to take advantage of your family.  Many people put photos of their kid’s birthday party up on a site like Flickr.  Please, password protect such items and give family members the password.  With an innocent act you can give away your child’s name, age, birthday, and possibly other information such as the family pet breed and name, relatives names, etc.  Not only do you make it possible for identity theft of your child’s identity, but you also open the door for more sinister and potentially tragic things.  Have you trained your child not to go with strangers even if they know their birthday, pet, mommy & daddy’s name, etc?

Passwords – Obviously not something you want to just hand out, but do you realize how important it is?  Imagine, if someone were to get or guess a single password – your email – what they could do.  Almost everything out there that has a password will email you with a new one or a way to reset it.  If the crook has your email then your entire world is at their disposal.  Use good passwords that are not regular words that can be guessed.

If you just use upper case alphabetical letters and only one character then there is a 1-in-26 chance of guessing it right on the first try.  They do it 26 times or less and they are in.  If you use 2 characters it goes to 1-in-676,  If you use upper and lower case letters a one-character password is 1-in-52.  A 2 character password is 1-in-2704.  With a computer it doesn’t take long to guess a lot of passwords so that is why most places recommend at least 8 characters and use upper and lower case letters, numbers and special characters such as *@$# whenever it is allowed.  Keep your information safe and you can have fun without worry on your next trip!

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