Identity thieves will even send emails claiming to be from a company that needs you personal information for financial purposes. Remember that no reputable company or business would ever contact you through email asking for this type of information.
Use anti-virus and anti-spyware software. This is one of the most important things you can do to keep identity thieves from accessing personal information that is stored on your computer. Identity thieves use viruses and spyware to gain access to the passwords, files, and browsing history on your computer. By doing this, identity thieves can learn about your personal information, such as account numbers, PINs, and passwords, and then use the information to gain access to your bank accounts and credit cards. It is even possible for some identity thieves to gain enough information from your computer to open new, fraudulent accounts without your knowledge. By using anti-virus and anti-spyware software, you can keep identity thieves from accessing any of your private documents that are stored on your computer.
Choose secure passwords. Online banking accounts and credit card accounts are very common, and it is important to choose secure passwords for these types of accounts. Choose passwords that have uppercase and lowercase letters, symbols, and numbers. It is also good to have a different password for each of your financial accounts. This way, if an identity thief does gain access to one account, they will not be able to use the other one. It is good to keep a hand-written list of your online passwords so that you will not forget them. Put this list somewhere safe in your home where no one else will have access to it but you. Never store a list of passwords on your computer or anywhere online because if an identity thief gained access to the files stored on your computer, they would then have access to every single account that is listed in the file containing your passwords.

Cookies are small bits of information that sites store on your computer to track the places you have been on the Web. They help sites create advertisements targeted for a customer, which ad network tracking specialists say increase the effectiveness of the advertisements. Have you ever noticed an Internet advertisement that was a product you had just searched for? The reason the advertisers knew your preferences was because of ad tracking.
Want to see how private you are on the Internet? Visit Panopticlick, at https://panopticlick.eff.org/, and see just how much information your browser reveals to the Web sites you visit. Each and every computer has a browser fingerprint based on one or more points of identifying information, from the exact version of the browser that you use, to the fonts you have installed, to the resolution of your screen. Web sites use these details to enhance your browsing experience, but if a Web site stores this information about you, it can be effective at tracking where individuals go on a site.
