eNetworking 101: The Blog: Privacy

Last week I had the honor of giving a keynote at a public event held in Syracuse by CNY Credit Unions & Cooperative Federal on identity theft. Besides myself, an FBI agent, U.S. postal inspector, and others spoke during the session. In addition to talking about the need to be aware of how we share private information, I also told the story of how my identity was stolen. In fact, my identity was stolen three times in one year! (One woman in the audience has had her identity stolen fives times.) The major incident was very low-tech, but effective.

We tend to think of our identity being stolen online, since that is what makes the news, but it is important to recognize how often we all give out identifying information about ourselves. For example, think about how much information you provide about yourself when you apply for a credit card, buy a house, or purchase a vehicle. And think about the information that arrives in your mail (and may sit in your mailbox) that contains information that would allow people to steal your identity. Depending on your neighborhood, you may want to consider a mailbox with a lock.

We often carry a lot of identifying information on our wallets and I encouraged everyone to check their wallets (and bags) and to remove those items that are not needed on a day-to-day basis. I showed three photos from Flickr that demonstrated how much some people carry. Indeed there is an entire pool of photos in Flickr where people show what's in their wallets and often it is too much.

People left the session with a folder of information and many useful tips. Below are the ones I gave:

Know who you are dealing with

Are they reputable?
How will they use your info?
If you feel they cannot be trusted:

Don’t deal with them (or don’t deal with them directly)
Use cash
Be extremely watchful of how they use your information

Carry & share only what is needed

Share in appropriate ways

Decide what information you will not give out

Be consistent, if possible

Be mindful & check your trail
Don’t let your guard down

Even online
Use the “Vegas rule”
If your identity is stolen, act quickly to stop the theft and repair the damage

Talk to the police, your bank and the credit bureaus
Keep track of every person you talk with and the actions taken
Follow-up

You know the Vegas rule -- what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas -- or in other words, you don't need to tell everyone everything. Somethings should remain private.

And what about maintaining your identity online? Here are some quick and easy to implement tips from the group:

If your going to do a purchase, make sure that you are using a secure site (https).
Don't use the same password for every site.
Don't click on links in spam emails or on spam web sites.
If you are getting email from a financial institution, and it is not your financial institution, ignore it.
If you are getting email from your financial institution, rather than responding to the email, call them using the phone number you already have for them. Do not trust the phone number in the email. It could be spam.

By the way, most identity theft is done my someone who knows the individual. That means that it could be a family member or friend who steals your identity. So the key is to be mindful and not automatically trust everyone.

It was a wonderful session and everyone -- even me -- learned something. Now let's hope that we put it all into practice.

Updated 4:15 p.m. with links to Flickr and a photo. Flickr seemed to be down earlier when I was working on this post.