We live in a culture that shares everything, even things that should not be shared. While it is certainly important to think twice before sharing potentially embarrassing moment or inflammatory thoughts on social media, it is imperative that you steer clear of share anything that might expose your identity. Unfortunately, because we are conditioned to become tweeting, snapping instagramming and every little thing that happens in our lives, common sense can easily go to the window.
A good example of this is the alarming practice of common people posting pictures of their credit or debit cards on social media. This is a common phenomenon on Twitter that there have been many articles and even a Twitter account dedicated to calling these oversharers out. Most people with a little common sense will not break and share a photo of their payment card - but there are probably other ways to expose your identity online without even realizing it. We have compiled a list of tips to help you prevent putting your identity at risk.
How to keep your identity protected online
1. Do not share photos of your identity, credit cards or important documents. A general rule: if it has your name, address, phone number or any other type of identifying information on it, you probably should not post a picture of it. This includes large items, such as your Social Security card and controls, but also the things you might not think would put your identity at risk - such as your flight boarding pass. If you absolutely should show your new photo license to prove to your friends and family wherever it is possible to take a great picture at the DMV, use a photo editing software to blur or black out any identifying information before posting.
2. Turn off geolocation for photos taken by your phone. Regarding the taking and sharing photos, it is also important to remember that even if your photo does not show personal information, it is possible for her to expose your exact location. How is this possible? Most smartphones are equipped with geolocation technology, which uses GPS to track where you are. When you take a photo, your location information when the picture is taken is recorded with the image. This means that anyone with access to your social media profile can potentially understand exactly where you live or work just by reading the data stored in your photos. Learn more about geolocation and how to disable here.
3. Talk to the children in your life to share safely. Because many adults are guilty of messages that expose their online identity, it must be assumed that young adults and children are more likely to commit these errors. Although it is not too difficult for parents and guardians to monitor Facebook, Twitter or Tumblr, other applications such as Snapchat can make it easy for children to share in secret - which could get them into trouble. That is why it is important to talk to young people about the dangers of sharing too much information, and consider monitoring their online activity to ensure that your message gets through.
4. Strengthen your privacy settings. Even if you must take care not to share photos and messages that expose your identity online, you can also create a buffer using the privacy settings offered to you by different social networks you use to prevent anyone and everyone to see what you post. Most social networks allow you to protect your messages - Facebook privacy settings allow extreme control, while other social networks like Twitter and Instagram are less complex while allowing you to keep your messages available to minimize your audience social media helps to "friends only." it is less likely that someone with malicious intent will snoop around your messages -. However, it is always important to avoid posting anything revealing
5. Search for yourself regularly. Many people have no idea of what is out there in their name online. It is good practice time to time look for yourself on Google and other search engines to stay on top of all that has been written that could potentially expose your identity. Maybe you forgot you started this blog as a teenager, or maybe someone was impersonating you on Facebook. Research not only your name and variations thereof, as well as user names or emails frequently used may be helpful to expose potentially damaging information that could hide on the web.
6. Use the help of a protection service against identity theft. Even if you are not intentionally expose your online identity, errors occur - such as being run-of-the-mill identity theft. You can not always be aware of everything bad single use of your information on the Internet, but you can put a protection service against identity theft in charge of scanning the black market of the Internet and other areas where the stolen identities can be found to catch all information of yours that is being exchanged, sold or otherwise misused. Many of these services - such as TrustedID - also offer technology that analyzes your Facebook, Twitter and other social media accounts to look for potential privacy issues, and if your identity is stolen, you can count on your identity protection service against theft to help with the restoration process.
Read our reviews identity theft protection to determine which services will be tailored to you and your family, and make sure to follow our identity theft blog for more tips and tricks to keep your identity.