Fighting identity theft, with portable data protection software

Identity theft is on the rise and is in fact the fastest growing crime in the United States.  According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) incidents involving identity theft were estimated at 9.9 million per year.  Additionally, for every minute, nineteen people may fall victim to identity theft. Nonetheless, some incidents of Identity theft can be caught early, and the matter can be resolved easily and quickly. Identity theft can occur from anywhere, be it at your workplace, purchasing goods on the internet, or simply losing your documents, such as your social security number, credit cards, driver’s license, and passport. Although, most individuals that do lose their personal information can become aware of the loss fairly quickly before any serious calamity occurs.

Some important steps you can take to ensure you don’t fall victim to identity theft is making sure you shred all your bank, credit card, and other statements that contain your personal information, before discarding them in the dumpster. This step is important because identity thieves will actively seek out your pile of garbage and will look for documents, which contain your personal information.  Another key step you can take, while conduction online transactions, is making sure that the site offers payment through Pay Pal, or if you are paying through a credit card, make sure that the website offers payment protection through SSL.

On the other hand, not all incidents concerning identity theft are preventable, and the victim or victims may never even find out about the thievery on their identity. Identity theft has become easier due to the fact that most personal information can be stored easily in computers and servers, and hackers can effortlessly steal personal information on anyone. Notwithstanding, newer innovations in digital security are making life hell for identity thieves, and chances are slim that a hacker can steal your personal information by passing through a server or a computer’s firewall, unless it is unsecured.

However, most people don’t realize that when we transfer our personal data onto a portable storage device, we are at an increased risk of losing that data. At this point you may be wondering how that is possible, I have never lost my USB storage device or portable hard drive? Well, there are no guarantees in life and it’s always possible for secret data to be stolen from your USB device. Take for example the following scenario: You work for an online clothing store as an accountant. Due to increased sales and growing demand for you products, your workload has increased significantly. Your employer asks you to put in extra hours by working from home to keep your company’s financial information in check and up to date. The most convenient method of taking your work home is to transfer all customer related data onto a USB storage device. One day, you end up losing your USB device, and your customers’ personal information is extracted by an identity thief. Your employer is sued by several customers, and you are eventually fired.

The preceding incident could have been avoided if you had installed USB security software. This software is installed directly on your USB device and cannot be accessed without a password. Software such as USB Secure ensures that losing your USB device doesn’t carry the risk of losing your clients personal information. Fight identity theft by converting your unsecure USB into a secure USB.