HomeCyber SecurityDon’t Let Your Identity Get Stolen

Don’t Let Your Identity Get Stolen

Most Read

Identity theft is getting more common. Thirty-three percent of Americans have already been victims. You don’t want to join them if you can help it.

While you should really have resources at your disposal to help you cope in the aftermath of identity theft, it can still be hard to recover from. It can wreck your credit, at least temporarily, and have creditors pounding down your door, at least until you can show them a police report.

- Advertisement -

Don’t let your identity get stolen. Follow these tips to keep your personal information safe – and thwart thieves who would try to steal your information for their own financial gain.

Watch Out for Phishing Attacks

If you don’t know how to avoid phishing attacks, it’s time to learn. Identity thieves use phishing emails, texts, and phone calls to try to scam you out of personal information so they can access your accounts, borrow money in your name, use your health benefits, and more.

These messages may ask you to follow a link to sign into your account and fix a problem. They’re actually using a mirror site to steal your login credentials. Learn how to avoid these kinds of attacks to protect your bank, shopping, and other accounts.

Protect Your Social Security Number

Your Social Security number is the most private of all your private information. A thief could use it to borrow money or open up credit cards in your name, use your medical benefits, get a driver’s license in your name, and more. Keep your Social Security card in a safe place – don’t carry it around with you. Be careful who you share the number with.

Always Use Unique, Strong Passwords

A unique, strong password is one that an identity thief will have a hard time guessing or cracking, and that could deter all but the most dedicated efforts. A strong password will be at least 14 characters long, with a unique combination of special characters, letters, and numbers. You should change your password every 60 to 90 days or sooner if it’s been compromised in some way.

Use Transaction Alerts

Transaction alerts let you know when a transaction is posted to your bank or credit card accounts. If someone steals your card or account information, transaction alerts will let you know about suspicious activity from the very first transaction. That’s better than waking up in the morning to a drained bank account or a maxed-out card.

Monitor Your Mail

Identity thieves often steal mail in order to gain access to personal information or to use those pre-approved credit card offers you might sometimes get in the mail. Sign up for Informed Delivery so you’ll see what you’re supposed to be getting and you’ll know if anything goes missing from your mailbox.

Shred Your Statements

Bank statements, credit card statements, and other such documentation contain a lot of personal information. You should always shred private documents before disposing of them. But don’t forget to read them first – you might notice suspicious activity on one of your accounts when you do.

Lock Your Mobile Device

Plenty of people get so caught up in protecting themselves online that they forget about physical security. Your mobile device contains all kinds of personal information and could give a thief access to your email, social media accounts, banking apps, and credit card apps. Use the lock screen so that if your phone gets lost or stolen, you’ll at least have a chance to wipe it remotely before the thieves access it.

Use Identity Theft Protection

A good identity theft protection suite offers features like dark web monitoring, so you can know immediately if your personal information is compromised on the dark web. You’ll also get social media monitoring, email filtering, and more. Perhaps most importantly, most services offer you a live helpline and insurance coverage to help you repair the damage identity theft can leave behind.

Consider Freezing Your Credit

If you’re not able to monitor your own credit closely, you’re at high risk of having your identity stolen, or you’re simply paranoid, you can have your credit frozen. Just call up one of the three major credit reporting bureaus – Experian, Transunion, or Equifax – and tell them you want to put a freeze on your credit. No one will be able to take out any credit in your name as long as the freeze is in place.

The downside is that “no one” includes you. You won’t be able to get a mortgage or open a credit card, or anything else that requires credit, without calling and having the freeze removed.

It may not always be possible to avoid identity theft, but you can dodge it most of the time when you use the right precautions. Safeguard your identifying information carefully, and protect your finances from thieves.

- Advertisement -

Subscribe To Morning Newsletters

Sign up to receive the latest news stories, exclusive interviews, and more in your inbox.

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

Editor's Pick

Krishna Mali
Krishna Mali
Founder, CEO & Group Editor of TechGraph.

Read More Stories

SKF Showcases Intelligent & Clean Solutions for the Textile Industry at International Textile Machinery Exhibition (ITME) 2022

SKF India, the country's leading technology and solutions provider of bearings and services will showcase innovative products and solutions...

OneRare and Cornitos: Bringing the Magic of Cornitos to the Foodverse

Cornitos is a leader in the Snack category and has always strived to give its fans and patrons the...

Chitkara University Signs MoU with NEC Corporation India to Transform Learning in the Field of AI/ML

Chitkara University announced its collaboration with NEC Corporation India, a wholly owned subsidiary of NEC Corporation, for a comprehensive...

Global Cryptocurrency Regulations: Impact on Industry and Investor Behavior in 2024

The world of cryptocurrency has seen remarkable growth and evolution since its inception, transitioning from obscure digital assets to...

COP28 UAE: SANY Promotes Green Manufacturing Transformation, Takes Concrete Action to Tackle Climate Challenges

CHANGSHA, China, Nov. 23, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- SANY Group, ("SANY"), a globally leading enterprise of the high-end equipment manufacturing industry, is accentuating advancing sustainable development and the green manufacturing transformation of the heavy machinery industry, ahead of the COP28 UAE, that is set to take place from November 30 to December 12 in Dubai. The theme of the 13-day program this year is "Actionism," calling for people to rise to meet the climate change challenges.

The COP28 will center on four major paradigm shifts – namely accelerating the transition from fossil fuels, agreeing on climate finance shifts, emphasizing the role of people and nature in climate action, and ensuring the summit is an inclusive event that women, indigenous people, local communities, youth, countries and more can all be a part of.

SANY is responding actively and positively to the summit's agenda with concrete actions to promote the transformation of green manufacturing, bringing sustainable solutions to the industries of mining, construction, wind power, and more.

Taking green actions to build a sustainable future

SANY is vigorously expanding the use of green energy (renewables such as solar and wind) in production processes to reduce the reliance on traditional energy sources, lower carbon emissions, and support climate change actions. It has adopted multiple initiatives, especially in accelerating the R&D and application of wind energy, hydrogen, and electrification solutions, and achieved significant results.

SANY's subsidiary SANY Renewable Energy has been investing in and constructing wind farms to boost the proportion of wind power in the energy structure, through intelligent upgrades in manufacturing and creating intelligent workshops. By doing this, SANY Renewable Energy has reduced the overall unit energy consumption and carbon emissions by 15 percent compared to pre-upgrade.

In 2022, SANY has added more than 3,000 energy metering connections. SANY built China's first intelligent mixing station park and invested 3.22 million yuan in photovoltaic construction that will produce 900,000 kWh of power annually. The park will cut 887 tons of carbon emission, 242 tons of dust emissions, 26.7 tons of sulfide, and 13.4 tons of nitric oxide to achieve synergetic development of intelligent manufacturing and environmental conservation.

A total of 11 subsidiaries of SANY have installed photovoltaic power generation equipment, with clean energy usage amounting to 16.013 million kWh.

SANY is actively engaged in the R&D of hydrogen fuel cell technology to improve battery efficiency, reduce cost, and boost the production and storage capabilities, while expanding the applications of hydrogen energy.

Innovation-driven climate action tackles industry bottlenecks

Through establishing a green supply chain, SANY adopts renewable materials and environmentally friendly technologies to reduce resource waste and improve the sustainability of the supply chain.

SANY continues to improve the long-term mechanism for pollution prevention and control, strengthen the control of waste emissions including water, gas, and other hazardous substances, and be cautious of business and operation actions that could damage the ecological environment. In 2022, the group's wastewater and gas emissions met the standard rate of 100 percent, with a 100 percent compliance rate for hazardous waste disposal.

The group is also pushing for using environment-friendly materials to minimize pollution, so that the carbon reduction throughout the product life cycle also includes materials. In 2022, its VOCs emission density was 0.0011 tons per million revenue, a 39.71 percent reduction from the base year.

Meanwhile, the continuous upgrade of production techniques and processes, promotion of energy conservation technologies, and advancement of low-carbon technology development are not only playing key roles in improving production efficiency, but also reducing carbon footprint and aims to reach the "dual-carbon" goals.

Calling for the public's participation

SANY has been carrying out training programs and campaigns centered on environmental protection for employees, while further raising community engagement in terms of green, low-carbon, community-friendly, and educational innovation agendas. In 2022, the company employees completed 687.4 hours of volunteer work, and SANY invested 9.75 million yuan in the year to support 15 public welfare projects.

SANY Construction Industry is leading the green technology application in urban infrastructure construction to accelerate the sustainable development of cities and building intelligent cities, green transportation systems, and energy-conserving architectures to reduce energy consumption, improving urban environment quality and people's livelihoods.

In terms of biodiversity and sustainable development, SANY emphasizes the conservation of soil, ocean, crops, and animals to create a better future, and advocates a circular economy to decrease the waste of resources.

In the context of increasingly severe issues of global climate change, SANY, as a leader in the green industry, is committed to promoting sustainable development and actively joining global efforts to address climate change through comprehensive initiatives such as green supply chains, green energy, and carbon emission reduction.

For more information about SANY Group, please visit www.sanyglobal.com or follow us on Facebook or YouTube.

Video - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2284211/SANY_s_New_Energy_Action.mp4
Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1518641/logo_Logo.jpg

Cision View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/cop28-uae-sany-promotes-green-manufacturing-transformation-takes-concrete-action-to-tackle-climate-challenges-301996601.html

Wonderful Pistachios Unveiled Global and Indian Pistachio Market Insights at the Inaugural Retail Symposium

Wonderful Pistachios, the world's largest vertically integrated pistachio and almond grower and processor, with local operations in India as...