Credit Loan > Identity Theft > Computer Hacking -- A Reason to Scrutinize Privacy Statements

Computer Hacked Identity Theft

There have been a lot of reports in the news lately about the computer hacking exploits of cyber criminals. For the most part, modern day computer hacking is about landing the big fish-- databases containing the personal information for thousands, or millions, of individuals and businesses in one fell swoop.

In 2008 the Transportation Security Administration had to suspend enrollment in its Clear Registered Traveler Program because the company that was charged with managing the database of registered travelers information had an unencrypted laptop stolen at the San Francisco International Airport. The laptop contained detailed information collected on 33,000 travelers for the programs database. Since then, the company has made sure all of the sensitive data is encrypted.

More recently a popular job search service had information stolen for 4.5 million registered job hunters, including their e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, and passwords. This was shortly after the same companies computers were infected with a virus which resulted in 1.6 million records being stolen.

Also very recently a credit card processing company that handles 100 million transactions monthly reported that its computer systems had been compromised due to hacking. The list goes on and on. The point is that computer hacking is big business, and your personal information is only as safe as the databases it is kept in. Preventing cyber crime has got to be everybodys business, and there are some simple things that you can do to help protect yourself from identity theft.

Companies are always trading information back and forth for different reasons. It could be for marketing purposes, for checking credit worthiness, or any number of other uses. It is hard to tell exactly what is done with the information you give a company-- it could be traded amongst various business interests or even sold on the open market for legitimate reasons. But, the more your personal information is spread from one place to another, the higher the likelihood that it could be compromised by a criminal.

There is one way to tell how your information is going to be handled, and it can be found in the company or website Privacy Statement. A good privacy statement will reveal to you the following:

• Contact information for the company, so you know that you are talking to the right people when you call or write for information.

• How your information will be shared with others. Sometimes, in the details of the privacy statement you will be given the option to Opt Out of having your information shared for certain purposes.

• How long your information will be kept on record. The longer your information is held, the greater the risk it could be compromised. If your information will be held for a long time you want to be assured that the company you are dealing with has very good security.

• You also want to know what security measures are used to protect your data. This does not mean that you have to be a security expert, but it does mean that the company should at least be able to communicate that it has taken measures including physical security and the use of secure hardware and software systems.

• Of course, you also want to know how your information will be collected, used and stored.

Every financial institution you do business with will provide you with their privacy statement, and every website you enter information on should also have a link to their privacy statement. If you are not readily provided with such a statement, if it is hard to find, or if you are not satisfied with the terms of the statement, then it would be a good idea to think twice about providing sensitive personal and financial information to them.