Friday, April 6, 2012

Four Essential Tips to Protecting Your Private Data Throughout Its Life Cycle

By Zeta C Donairee


Tips on securing your personal data throughout its lifecycle include keeping files in a secure location, regularly reviewing your files, checking the whereabouts of your personal files, and destroying unessential information properly.

Identity theft cases are fast increasing in number due to the improving skills of the robbers and the negligence of people in taking care of their private papers. Due to this, you need to protect your personal information at every part of its lifecycle to secure it from these criminal acts.

Keep documents in a secure location

Transfer and keep all your files in a place that is safe from illegal access. For the files on your desktop, make sure that you put them in a safe area. Always set your computer to automatically lock after being idle for a few minutes and to only be unlocked with a password. Your password must also be changed every few months and use characters that include both uppercase and lowercase letters and something that's not obvious details. A lot of individuals utilize their birthdays or even the word "password," and most identity thieves know about this. Choose your password carefully so nobody else can get into your account without your authorization. For paper documents, keep them secure in a location that you can lock and be the only one who has the key. Obviously, this safe location must be made of a heavy material, like a metallic vault, so the entire container can't be carried away with your documents inside.

Regularly review your documents

Check your private files regularly to ascertain if there are errors or information that needs to be updated. You should also ensure that while you're accessing or processing any of your information it is done in a safe way. Moreover, for documents which you plan to send via mail courier, make sure that they are packaged properly. Always use a reliable courier that you know and who can offer you a monitoring service. Then, confirm that your package was received by the proper individual and in the same way as you had wrapped it.

Monitor the whereabouts of your personal documents

Always utilize a monitoring service that will offer you details regarding files you may have sent, replicated, or distributed. Log each time you have any of these tasks performed so you can simply track down an issue whenever one occurs and immediately resolve it. It can also be used as a way to control the damage for a problem that may unexpectedly occur.

Destroy unessential data properly

When data is no longer essential, you should dispose of it properly, like terminating account access or closing regular membership accounts. For example, if a certain data encoder has already completed his duties, you should close his account and membership so there will be no reason for someone else to access the account other than you and the other data encoders. For paper documents, you should engage shredding services either on site or in a secure place. If you opt to have files shredded in an area other than on-site, it is highly advisable that you have someone you trust to witness the correct destruction of the documents. Alternatively, you can also purchase a shredding unit that can provide the maximum security you can afford. Then, you can shred all your papers right in your own office.

You can reduce the risk of becoming a victim of identity theft even further by limiting the number of individuals who can access your personal documents.

Know more about shredding services by going to http://www.tntshredding.com/




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