Internet Identity Theft and How to Prevent It

The traumas and problems associated with identity theft are by no means new on the scene. Those of you who are accustomed to working on the internet, purchasing or for any personal use will know that there has become an increasing risk in internet identity theft as more and more people are using it to carry out their daily activities.

According to some research executed by the Federal Trade Commission, as many as 10% of Americans using the internet have been involved in some form of identity theft in the last half decade – sounds worrying doesn’t it? Internet identity theft has its differences when compared with common identity theft. In the case of common identity theft you would have to have had something physically taken from you – such as money stolen from your home or a credit card statement snatched out of your garbage.

As awful as common identity theft is, internet id theft can be far worse. The primary reason for this last declaration is that those who have incurred internet identity theft might not realize it’s happenings until it is too late to do something about it.

How Does Internet Identity Theft Take Place?

Most internet users don’t know how easy it can be for internet identity theft to take place. Computers can be technical at the best of times but it is well worth your own safety and security to discover how internet identity theft works. Your hard drive collects and stores a whole lot of personal information about you and your internet usage.

Temporary internet files, cache and your browsing history will store even the smallest of details on your hard drive – but what is the most worrying is the storage of credit card numbers and passwords, personal addresses and telephone numbers.

Hackers have their ways to get hold of that information – even without being directly in front of your computer. If the information you are inputting on the internet travels over an insecure transmission they can pick it up. Spy-ware is yet another trick they have up their sleeve – certain software and downloads may include some malicious spy-ware that lets the hacker see right into your computer and extract the information he needs to perform internet theft.