Top 10 Best Practices

1. Shred all financial documents before throwing them out.
2. Purchase a locking mailbox or route mail to a post office box.
3. Distrust e-mail links - instead, type addresses directly into the address box.
4. Protect your computer with a firewall and anti-virus software.
5. Don't disclose social security numbers or other confidential information.
6. Download software with caution - avoid downloads from questionable web sites.
7. Create unique passwords, commit them to memory.
8. Don't open e-mail attachments from unknown sources.
9. Don't put personal information such as your SSN on checks.
10. Purchase identity theft protection.