AP9 Articles

Privacy Matters Identity Warns, A Wallet Holds a lot More than Money

Privacy Matters Identity (SM), a leading security and privacy membership program from Adaptive Marketing LLC^®, knows that a lost wallet can mean instant panic. And those first few seconds of helplessness — followed by everything from self-deprecation to worry, even to anger — are perfectly normal. Still, if it happens, consumers need to have a recovery plan in place.

In today’s world, it’s just too easy for personal information to fall into the wrong hands, notes PMIdentity. So, first and foremost, make sure to stash away all important account numbers elsewhere, separate from that wallet or purse — especially your Social Security number. Just in case someone else has the chance to go on a no-holds-barred shopping spree or clean out a personal bank account with no reprisals.

Sure, it’s inconvenient to have to deal with the loss of critical and personal items — not to mention cash — but no one else will do the legwork. So if that trusty billfold or favorite hand bag should suddenly goes missing, PMIdentity recommends creating some semblance of the following “Lost Wallet” recovery plan:

-- Practice the three “Cs.” Easier said than done, but this is a good time to try to be cool, calm and collected. Count to 10, and think about retracing those steps to the last time the wallet was accounted for. Anyone can freak out or punch a hole in a wall in a fit of rage. Dare to be different, and breathe deeply instead.

-- Dial for dials. Don’t give up “the hunt” right away, but don’t dally either. If there’s sensitive and personal information in that wallet, anyone who can read can use it for personal gain. Keep those phone skills sharp, think about canceling all the credit and charge cards, and get replacement account numbers. A lost wallet will mean some extra time on the phone, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

-- Sound the alarm. So once those account numbers have been canceled through the individual credit companies, call up the major credit reporting agencies, and ask them to flag accounts with a “fraud alert.” In case the cards have already been used by someone else, adding a “victim’s statement” to the account history will build in added protection.

-- Meanwhile, back on the busy phones … Once all the financials have been handled, get on the phone with everybody else — utility companies, the bank and the phone company — just in case someone out there feels like becoming an identity thief might be an interesting career move.

So before panic takes over, reconstruct the situation. Maybe that missing wallet is in another pair of pants or in the glove compartment of the car. If not, play it safe and get ready to borrow a tip or two from IK9 Privacy Matters Identity.

Privacy MattersSM Reminds Consumers About the Do’s and Don’t of Password Safety

Privacy Matters, a leading security and privacy membership program from Adaptive Marketing LLC^®, prompts its members and all consumers alike to create safe passwords for their online accounts. The damage an online hacker can do to someone’s life once his or her password has been decoded is infinite.

These hackers don’t even need high-tech tools to guess the passwords. Once they have access to a computer, all the stored files and family photos can give them the clues to simply guess by trial and error. That’s why Privacy Matters encourages consumers to go beyond the pet names and birth dates when deciding which passwords to use for online accounts.

Here are some valuables do’s and don’ts of password security, from PrivacyMatters:

Do:

-- Create an atypical mix of characters. The possibilities of creating a unique password are endless. Choose a sonorous word, or perhaps one in another language, and change it by replacing letters for special characters such as %, @ or &. Adding a couple of uppercase letters will also make it more difficult to decipher.

-- Use a pass phrase. If a made-up word isn’t easy to remember, try using the first letter from each word of a sentence. Think of a famous line from a movie, a poem or a song. For example, “Say hello to my little friend,” from the 1983 movie “Scarface,” will be something like: shtmlf1983. To make it more difficult to decode, use some other tips from this list: $htm!f1983 or 19$Htm!f83, etc.

-- Create different passwords. Ideally, online travelers should have a different password for each application or site, especially for those that involve financial and personal information. The longer the password, the more time hackers have to spend decoding it, suggests Privacy Matters. Experts recommend a minimum of six letters and at least one number.

-- Change passwords frequently. Passwords should be changed every 30 to 90 days and should not be reused for at least a year.

-- Employ technology. There are password management tools in the market that are easy to install and easy to use. These programs maintain a list of user names and passwords in encrypted form, to increase the security of all personal information.

Don’t:

-- Use family names or nicknames. Personal information should be banned from all passwords. Information thieves can easily guess pets’ name, special dates and others.

-- Utilize single words. Hackers can try with every word on the English dictionary until they find the one that will “open the door” to all the information they need. Even if the chosen one is in another language, it should be changed drastically by using numbers or other characters on the keyboard.

-- Be so obvious. Using the same user name and password for one site or creating passwords based on keyword layout are simply “Internet rookie” mistakes. These are some of the patterns hackers try first before moving on to more complicated tactics.

Privacy Matters helps members manage, monitor and protect their personal credit information. Continuous access to their credit report and scores, at the click of a button, is another advantage of a membership in PrivacyMatters.