Searching the internet for your Social Security number is just one important part of Securing Your Online digital Identity
Thousands of identities are traded online every day, some people find they have been the victim of identity theft by searching for their social security number on the internet and find it being traded.
Unfortunately, most of the web sites used for trading stolen identities are hidden beyond the reaches of search engines so it's very rare that searching for your SSN will produce any results even if it is in the hands of criminals. It may even have been sold and resold multiple times before someone starts to use it fraudulantly.
So how do you go about protecting what is likely the most valuable asset you will ever own - your identity?
1. The first method is to reduce the likelihood of anyone getting enough informatin about you to be able to get away with pretending to be you. Make sure you destroy any old documents that are personally identifiable - a shreder is a cheap and easy way to achieve this.
2. Do you shop or bank online? is anyone monitoring your keystroke or watching your screen by using a virus? You've likely heard of botnets, networks of infected machines, oten numbering in the tens of millions. That's tens of millions of machines whose owners simply don't know they're infected. You ask them if they use antivirus and they say no - I don't need it, I'd know if I was infected!. Buy antivirus now, if you can't afford it then use AVG free
3. These techniques are great but sometimes the worst happens and your identity does get stolen. You know how valuable your identity is and how babdy your credit score could be affected - signing up with a credit reporting company will mean that if your identity is stolen you'll know about it and be able to act quickly