As promised, here are some sensible (and simple) steps you can take to prevent your personal information and data from falling victim to online fraud and identity theft:
• Be aware: Be conscious that criminals are trying to steal private data for financial gain
• Take inventory: Know what personal information is contained on files that are being shared electronically
• Determine sensitivity: What could the repercussions be if your personal info fell into the wrong hands
• Be smart…. Be safe: Know how personal information is being transferred and shared. Are security precautions being used by yourself and others?
• Don’t use email or Instant Messenger to share sensitive information!: Plain and simple – email and IM are NOT secure
• Keep it simple and secure: Set up easy, intuitive, secure processes for storing and sharing personal data
OK, so there’s my list and I’m sticking to it. I know that whenever I need to move sensitive information I’m going to rely of the WS_FTP Professional secure file transfer client.
WS_FTP Professional is tremendously easy to use, delivers super fast transfers, priced fairly, and most importantly, its got uber-strong security built-in such as 256-bit AES encryption for transfers over SSL and SSH protocol as well as SHA-512 file integrity checking, and integrated PGP file encryption so data is protected while in storage.