Data Leaks For Dummies®

Chapter 28. Ten Tips to Protect Data at Home

This book is all about how you protect data at work. Of course, we all have data at home as well — and it's just as much in need of protection. Here are a few tips to help you keep your information at home as safe as what you have at work.

Shred personal information

Cyber-criminals are after your information. Yes, your information. They'll use any means possible — and this means looking through your trash, rubbish, garbage — anything you've thrown out. Shred anything that could be useful to them: bank-account details, credit-card details, loyalty cards, utility bills, unneeded medical documents (such as old prescriptions), and any special offers — especially pre-approved credit-card application forms! (They used to send those with actual cards; if you see one of those, get some BIG scissors.)

Note

All paper information can be recycled... even composted — but reduce it to shredded paper first!

Understand what personal data you have on your laptop

Although companies usually don't know exactly what information they hold (and this is bad), individuals are no less in the dark. What information do you have — and where is it? It could be on your laptop, a family computer, other computers, mobile storage devices, even the list of names and numbers on your cell phone. If you know where it is, then you can protect it.

Tip

Minimize the number of different machines from which you access the Internet. Okay, so you may not have to do this for absolutely everything ...