In part 1 we looked at a couple of ways your identiy can be stolen. Now in part 2 we will look at some simple steps you can take to try to combat them.

We touched upon your office waste and the fact that details are all over the correspondance. I am going to state the obvious here but some people and businesses over look the obvious.

DON'T JUST THROW IT AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There I have stated the obvious!!!

Get a shredder, it needs to be a cross cut shredder not just some cheap and cheerful thing from Asda, a cross cut shredder. If it has your name or company details, mobile phone invoices, phone invoices etc shred it.

Now the online threat; here are some very simple things you can do.

1. If you get an email saying click here to amend your details or click here to claim your tax refund, or click here to, well you get the idea. If it appears geniune such as from your bank or paypal or a supplier, go to their legitimate website and access it that way. DO NOT CLICK the email.

2. Have some good quality Anti-Virus software such as Trend Micro Titanium (new for 2010) or AVG Internet Security Suite. Any security program that features the internet security suite. DO NOT be fooled into thinking free anti-virus will work for you, especially business users, free may cost you nothing initially or annually but in this case it is a very false economy. You need the full internet security suites, there are many manufacturers available and everyone willrecommend you something different.

3. What ever Internet security suite you have it is useless unless you keep it upto date, on every machine you have, no matter how often it is used.

4. Have a good password policy and make sure everyone adheres to it. A hacker can crack a 8 character password all in lower case in approx 2 hours. Add a single uppercase character to it and you can increase this time to approx 200 years.

5. Make sure your passwords are not obvious, such as password or 12345678 etc etc. The most common ones are pet names, car make, kids names etc. Approx 20% of passwords can be found using a list of 10 common passwords or themes.

6. Change your passwords regularly and do not write them down.

 A quick fact on passwords. 90% of people use the same password for everything they have.

We could go on for pages and pages but can leave it now until another blog.

Final thought though. How much of your life is now stored electronically, how easy would it be for someone to get access to your single password and become you? What damage would it cause you or your business?

If you want to find out more about IT security for your business or home contact Wardour Secure Networks Limited 01476573599