Protect your privacy at home

Protecting your privacy and that of your family is not that hard to do. Just educate yourself on the ways to protect your personally identifiable information and do it. Here are some examples to get you started.

• Keep important documents in a safe or safety deposit box.
  At least that offers some protection in case of disaster or burglary.
• Shred your statements before throwing them out.
  Once your garbage leaves your house, you have no idea where it is going or who might stumble upon a paper with your name, address and account number.
• Don’t leave your mail in the mail box.
  Although it is against the law, people do come around sticking their fliers in your mailbox. You never know what they might do. Better yet, put a lock on your mailbox.
• Don’t share social security numbers unless absolutely necessary.
  Even then, question why the company needs it and whether they can create a unique identifier for you instead. An alternative might for you to create an “EIN” Tax ID Number with the IRS that you can give to potential employers. Or, use a drivers license number if that is acceptable. But protect that SS# by all means necessary.
• Don’t share the birth certificate.
  My community wanted copies of my children’s birth certificate just to confirm them so they could use our community pool. My answer, NO WAY! They can’t ensure that they won’t loose that info and quite frankly they have no business holding on to such a document. Don’t be afraid to say No.
• Protect your digital files, too.
  Learn how to encrypt your files and store them on optical media (DVD, CD), external hard drive, or online storage service. Don’t keep everything onsite because a local disaster could wipe out your entire archive.
• Learn when to shut up.
  “Social engineering” is one of the most efficient ways for scam artists to get info they should not have. Some people seem to tell everyone they meet all their personal info: when they are away, how much money they make, what expensive things they own. Just shut up. Zip you lips. Remember the WWII mantra, “Loose lips sink ships.”
• Teach your spouse, parents and children about common sense.
  Unfortunately, the older generation can be more trusting and may not be as aware of sophisticated security risks. Kids and teens are naive and need to be educated.

Be aggressive, take it seriously and don’t delay. Do what you can to protect your data and that of your family — because no one else will!

Have any additional suggestions? Please submit them.
-Roland