Privacy is an increasingly rare commodity these days. Just search for yourself on Pipl.com—you might be surprised at the number of companies that claim to have information about your family, income, address, phone number and much, much more. That’s because your personal information, including your email address, phone number and social security number, is worth a lot of money to legitimate businesses and bad guys alike. The bad guys just want to steal from you. Companies want to know as much about you as possible so they can sell you more products and services or serve you ads that are highly relevant to your demographics and preferences. So take these simple steps to protect your valuable personal information. 1. Don’t fill out your social media profile. The more information you share online, the easier it’s going to be for someone to get their hands on it. Don’t cooperate. Take a look at your social media profiles and keep them barren—the people who need to know your birth date, email address and phone number already have them. And what exactly is the point of sharing everything about yourself in your Facebook profile? If you care about your privacy, you won’t do it. 2. Be choosy about sharing your social security number—even the last 4 digits. Think twice about sharing your social security number with anyone, unless it’s your bank, a credit bureau, a company that wants to do a background check on you or some other entity that has to report to the IRS. If someone gets their hands on it and has information such your birth date and address they can steal your identity and take out credit cards and pile up other debt in your name. Even the last four digits of your social security number should only be used when necessary. The last four are often used by banks an other institutions to reset your password for access your account. Plus, if someone has the last four digits and your birth place, it’s a lot easier to guess the entire number. That’s … Continue reading 11 Simple Ways to Protect Your Privacy