Spyware: Spyware is a general term that encompasses the majority of malware like Trojans, adware, pop-ups, altered cookies, key-loggers and so on. Spyware is typically designed to spy on your Internet activity, seeking to find any weak points in your security. Hacking experts have come up with advanced weapons like key-loggers able to recall each keystroke, allowing them to reveal your password, banking info, and email.

Stop Spyware: Look for spyware-combating software that has been endorsed by a reliable source like Microsoft.

We often receive emails from companies that we are acquainted with asking us to visit their website to correct some personal information. Once at the website, we enter our information to log into the site and then update our information. Have you ever stopped to wonder if you are giving your information to the company you think you are, or maybe you are giving out personal information to a criminal?

The process of a thief using a combination of emails and websites that are posing as something they really aren’t in order to get you to hand over your valuable personal information is called phishing. Phishing is becoming on of the favorite methods used by criminals to steal from unsuspecting consumers.

Most people should check their credit reports once a year. Most people should see their doctors once a year, too. Just as each person has a different health situation, each person also has a different credit situation. While once a year may be enough for those with good credit, others may need to check their reports more often. In this economy, many people are in sticky credit situations, opening more accounts than usual, or at least just wanting to be aware of their credit information. In fact, there are many reasons to check your credit report more often than once per year.

Just last year alone, over 10 million people had their identities stolen according to the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), a non-profit organization primarily funded by the Department of Justice.

To put that in perspective, that means you have about a 1 in 10 chance EVERY year at getting your identity stolen. If you were to get your identity stolen it will cost you an average of $550.39 in out-of-pocket expenses and it will take you an average of 116 hours and up to 12 months to repair the damage.