Data Privacy Day: Do you know how to protect your personal information?

Last week's security breach at Heartland Payments Systems, which may have compromised millions of debit and credit cards, has added a bit more urgency to today's worldwide celebration of Data Privacy Day.

The annual event tries to raise awareness of the many privacy threats consumers face online. Events, taking place at a variety of locations, include contests for kids, panel discussions, and educational events.

In a privacy study released for the occasion, Microsoft found that consumers' three main online privacy concerns were about identity theft, child safety, and the ability to control firms' sharing their information with third parties.

If you share these concerns, check out our Online Security Guide. You can watch our animated musical video on e-mail scams, test your ability to tell a fraudulent e-mail from a legitimate one, and learn about the biggest online blunders to avoid.

There are also informative reports on identity theft and auction scams.

Here are some other tips to keep your personal data safe online:

Social networking. Visit your social networking site's privacy settings page. From there, you should be able to restrict who gets to view certain pieces of information about you. For example, it's OK to let your friends know when it's your birthday, but keep your birth year private. And even if you hide your data from prying eyes, use caution in what you post. Try this quiz to see just how much intruders can find out about you from your social-networking page. Don't post anything that might give away where you live. Finally, think before you post: Is that photo really something you want a future employer to see? You can't stop other people from posting questionable photos, but you can always ask the person who posted them to remove them.

E-mail. Safeguard yourself from phishers, cybercriminals who try to steal your personal data by luring you to illegitimate sites. It's risky to click on links sent via e-mail from financial institutions. Those links could lead you to a phishing site. Instead, type the institution’s Web address directly into your browser yourself.

Wireless Internet. Enable "Wi-Fi Protected Access" (WPA) on your wireless router, so only computers with the proper software key can connect to your wireless network and computers. Set the router to allow connections only from your own Media Access Control, or MAC, addresses, which will prevent unauthorized entry to your network and Internet connection. When using Wi-Fi hot spots, avoid logging in to sensitive sites like your company's network or your bank, and limit connection time to a minimum. Turn off transmitters when you’re not using Wi-Fi. Consult your operating system's manuals on how to disable ad-hoc networking over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connections. If your laptop has Bluetooth, consult the manual to modify automatic pairing, discovery, and visibility settings.

—Donna Tapellini

Comments

[Donna Tapellini]

To securely erase selected files from a Windows computer, use Eraser (free at www.heidi.ie/eraser). It can expunge temporary files as well as those you've moved to the Recycle Bin, and can also erase an entire drive.

[Douglas Camp]

An area of concern Consumer Reports is not touching on much less testing is which product on the market (freeware, shareware, or otherwise) is the best to completely wiping a hard-drive so no one can recover files from it when you want to get rid of the hard-drive.

This is a very important subject not only for corporations, but for your run of the mill computer user.