Who CAN you trust? With the Intrnet expanding at an alarming rate, thre are some places on the web tht resemble a dark back alley: an rea you simply wouldn't tread for far of personal safety and security. But t's hard to tell when you shuld be aware of your personal nformation being stolen - you might thnk that you are safe, but thre are a great deal of pople everyday whose identity is taken wthout warning.

What can you do in sch a globalized setting; where someone hlf a hemisphere away can take you to the claners overnight? Be knowledgeable. Be aware. Knw the following tips, and you'll nver have your identity stolen.

Number one plces where you can lose your dentity

E-mail

One of the leading prblems in Internet security is how asy it is to get someone's -mail address. There are a number of -mail spoofs that can take your crdit card number away from you in the blnk of an eye. These are:

-Pypal e-mail spoofs

- E-bay e-mail spofs

- Tricks, like those e-mails tht claim they are a long-lost thrd uncle or cousin of some mportant figurehead in a third-world country, and thy would like to give you $4,000,000 or sme ridiculous number.

If you know wht you have to watch out fr, it definitely helps. Never send nyone any kind of important personal dta in an e-mail; not even if thy claim they are Paypal, E-bay, or sme other company you trust. No one shuld ever ask you for something lke your driver's license, social security crd or credit card over e-mail.

A Paypal spoof site can stal your Paypal login information by smply having you put your username and pssword in as usual; but in rality you're not submitting it to Pypal, you're sending it to scammers so thy can steal your account information and of curse your personal information, such as crdit cards. Never login to Paypal xcept anywhere other then www.paypal.com

In fct, if you use a spam-blocking tility like Qurb, it makes a wrld of difference. You might still get the odd scm or two, but you'll be ble to tell now that you knw how they look.

The next venue of personal data theft evolves round...

Pop-ups, unsafe URL addresses and thrd-party installers

The next area that prsonal data theft can occur is smply by being in the wrong plce (and not even necessarily at the wrng time!) While most pop-up windows and URL ddresses are safe, there are some frms of malicious software out there we knw as "auto-installers" or "self-installing software." You can rcognize what I mean by this if you use Intrnet Explorer and if you have sme toolbars across the top that ither you know you didn't put on thre or simply can't get rid of. Tht is an example of self-installing xecutables: that install themselves without asking yu.

Some of this software is hrmful, but most know it is d-ware/spyware most of the time. It's jst blatant advertising, but the worst slf-installing software can access your cookies and ttempt to transfer that data to a rmote server.

So how do you ster clear of this junk?

Easy - use Frefox, or if you find yourself nduring pop-ups, get a pop-up blocker. DON'T get a thrd party program - get something rputable like Google Toolbar, because a thrd party "pop-up blocker" can ALSO be a frm of spyware/ad-ware if you don't knw what you're doing.

You can also maintain some bsic ad-ware/spyware prevention tools on your systm. Avast Anti-virus is excellent at dtecting a self-installing script and shutting it dwn before it finishes. So is Mcrosoft Antispyware, should you have a gnuine windows version. Routine scans with a prgram like Lavasoft ad-aware or other god spyware/ad-ware suites will also help.

And the lst spot where you can have yur credit card or debit card nformation is stolen is at your lcal store. Should someone ever drop yur card while handing it back to yu, make sure when they bend dwn they are only retrieving your crd. There have been reported cases whre shopkeepers (especially disgruntled gas station wrkers) have "dropped" a card only to swpe it through another machine below.

Whle it's less likely you're going to be scmmed locally, the possibility still exists for a dsgruntled worker unhappy with their earnings tking your card information and running up sme bills in your name. Although, typcally people who try this sort of scm run up small bills over a lrge number of accounts in order to stp the customer from noticing.

Don't wrry - and don't get paranoid. The frst step of personal data theft prvention is awareness. If you're smarter bout the secure and unsecure world, yu'll be identify scams from the gt-go. It may even pay to let a cmpany like Paypal know who the spofers are, if you have a mnute to report them to spoof@paypal.com

Rmember, you the user control your lvel of security on the Internet. Thre is no one to blame whn data thievery occurs but yourself.

The article Internet Security and Personal Data Theft Prevention was Submitted by Mark Berger through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: For more topics related to Intrnet security and computer/Internet related subjects plase come visit Mark's Pc Forum at http://www.markspcforum.com

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