It will soon be 2015 – are you ready? You’ve likely heard of New Year’s resolutions such as losing weight, eating healthier and quitting smoking, but what about a preventative resolution? In 2015, why not insure your most important digital information, such as documents, photos, and other media.
Identity Theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in the United States today. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) approximates that up to nine million people in the United States have their identities taken every year. Nearly 15 million United States residents have their identities used fraudulently each year with financial losses totaling upwards of $50 billion.
That means about seven percent of individuals in the United States have their identities abused, and each case results in approximately $3,500 in losses. According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “Close to 100 million additional Americans have their personal identifying information placed at risk of identity theft each year when records maintained in government and corporate databases are lost or stolen.” These disturbing statistics show that identity theft may be the most expensive, common, and prevalent crime in the United States.
Thieves do not need much to steal your identity. All they need is:
- Name and address
- Social Security Number
- Account numbers
- Passwords
How they get this information:
- Stealing - wallets, handbags, computers, phones, tablets, and items they can take from your mail, such as checks and offers for credit cards.
- Dumpster diving - to find discarded mail, documents, cds, etc.
- Phishing/spam – fake emails that post as legitimate companies and ask for users’personal information
- Social engineering - gaining your trust in person, on the phone, online, mail, or through email to get your personal information
- Shoulder surfing - watching you log onto devices in public
- Hacking - guessing at passwords, sending malware, spyware or other software to get at the data in your computer
Luckily, you can back up your files with RossBackup before any of these things happen. You can protect all of your devices (even your phone!), so the thieves cannot get to your information in the first place. The RossBackup promise is that of accountability and trust. Our goal is to make sure your data is protected, so you can focus on what’s important. Plus, who wants to spend the holidays trying to recover lost data? This year, make your New Year’s resolution to keep your most important digital files safe and secure from outside threats.
https://ist.mit.edu/security/identity_theft