I promised a down-loadable file of identity theft prevention tips during an identity theft seminar I gave for Walter Reed Army Medical Center yesterday, sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense. But first, I wanted to thank everyone at WRAMC for hosting both me and Suze Orman. Thank you for the wonderful turnout (1500 of you!) and thoughtful questions. I was invited back to your installation by Colonel McHugh, so I look forward to seeing you again.

As promised, here is the condensed version of  identity theft prevention tips that will help you immediately begin the process. I have also included a clickable version below.

Identity Theft Prevention Tips

Hooah!

John

We’ve gone soft; we fear honesty. I think we even fear being honest with people more than we fear people being honest with us. Honesty has become synonymous with ugly confrontation, rather than just being, well, honesty.

Yesterday, a good friend emailed me a two sentence note reminding me that I hadn’t done something that I’d promised I would do. What I had promised is immaterial to this post, but that I had promised to do it, and then failed, is very important. I gave my word to a good friend, and then ignored my promise. And he had the guts to remind me. In fact, he’s laughing at me right now that I even consider his reminder to be a big deal, because to him it would be phony not to remind me. That’s who he is. And he’s a better friend for it. And in no way could what he did be called confrontational. Direct, yes. Honest, yes.

Here’s the striking part that makes me uncomfortable — I only have THREE friends (in addition to my wife, who is my honesty compass) who have the backbone to call me on something like this. And that makes me sad, because I have many friends, and it means that most of the time I’m probably not hearing the whole truth, maybe just a watered down version of what they think I want to hear. And who knows, maybe that is what I want to hear. Worse yet, I’m not sure I would have confronted me like my friend did (even though it was something minor), which means that I’m no better that those I’m condemning as soft.

Last week at an identity theft speech for the Department of Defense, I met two soldiers who alerted me to the new security risk of Cell Phone Tapping. SigInt (or signal interception) has long been a part of warfare and espionage. But the possibilities erupt with the advent of cell phone tapping. Imagine the conversation of a soldier being overheard by the enemy – deployment details, troop locations, command structure, strategic and tactical information. The prospect is terrifying for our national security.

This week, I was asked to help with a case of domestic abuse: the husband had installed Cell Phone Tapping Software (like computer spyware or keyloggers) on his wife’s phone prior to their divorce. During the divorce proceedings, he listened to every conversation, read every email and text sent from her phone, and could even control her calendar and applications (thanks to iPhone Tapping Software). Because of GPS tracking, he always knew where she was. When she switched to a new phone number and iPhone, iTunes must have synced the malicious software to the new phone along with all of the legitimate programs – allowing the abusive husband access to the new phone and continue stalking her. Cell phone tapping software allows the user to perform all of these tasks without your ever knowing it:

LifeLock has been the victim of identity theft, and it will ultimately improve their product.

Over the weekend, LifeLock, the identity theft prevention marketing machine, lost a piece of who they are (were) when a judge stripped them of their most fundamental prevention tool — automatic fraud alerts on consumer credit reports. The net result is that LifeLock is having to strengthen it’s underlying identity theft monitoring architecture to fill the marketing hole, moving its product closer to superior identity surveillance services such as CSIdentity Protector.

I have never been the strongest supporter of LifeLock. Why? Because most every protection they offered out of the gate were steps you could take for yourself, for free. For example:

1. Place a Fraud Alert on your credit files. (A stronger solution is to Freeze Your Credit with Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.)
2. Opt Out of financial junk mail.
3. Get a copy of your Credit Report.

In addition, I disagree with their President, Todd Davis, and his constant publication of his Social Security Number for sensational marketing purposes. Mr. Davis is sending the wrong message to the average listener: that if you use LifeLock, your Social Security Number and identity are so safe that you can give them away to anyone. But Mr. Davis has been the victim of several cases of identity theft, not something he advertises on his traveling SSN van. No one solution solves identity theft. It takes a layered approach, much like the deadbolts, police forces, alarms, lights, dogs and neighborhood watch programs that protect our homes.

In a New York Times Magazine article entitled Facebook Exodus, Virginia Heffernan questions whether Facebook users are losing interest like kids lose interest in a new toy. Heffernan cites the reasons her friends are defecting:

• It makes us too nosy, too focused on other people’s dirt (our “friends”)
• Some fear stalkers
• Some feel their privacy is being compromised
• Some disappear without a word

In addition to this, I would add:

• It takes a lot of time away from real-life interactions
• We remember why we weren’t in touch with those old friends from high school – they wouldn’t even talk to me then!
• People are tired of having more of a relationship with a screen than an actual human
• It encourages others to talk about you in an open forum, which is fine if everyone loves you
• It gives us license to be brazen and overly direct
• We tend to share too much, which can lead to fraud, exploitation and identity theft

Facebook privacy concerns are the issue I am interested in most. A quote in Heffernan’s article by Leif Harmsen sums the privacy issues up perfectly:

“It is not ‘your’ Facebook profile. It is Facebook’s profile about you.”