Online Solutions to Protecting Your ID

Being technology dependent can greatly increase your risk of identity theft if you aren’t careful, but now it looks like technology can also offer you extra layers of identity theft protection. Think for a moment about all of the times you are asked to enter your email address or personal information on various different websites. Each time you give your information away (even if it’s just your email address) you could be putting yourself at risk. In the very least you could be setting yourself up to become a recipient of a phishing email. But what if you could greatly eliminate the amount of personal information you had to give out and still spend time on all of your favorite websites? Now you can.

Here are three hot new ways you can use technology to your advantage.

1. 10 Minute Mail. If you want instant access to a website with membership privileges—so you can make a quick purchase, read posted articles, or gain  access to discount codes—but you don’t want them to keep your email address on file, you can sign up for a temporary email account at this site. You simply logon to the website and click on the link that will automatically generate your temporary email address. For the next ten minutes you will be able to send email, receive email and read messages sent to that account through a webpage created for that address on the 10 Minute Mail site. If you think you need more time, you can apply for a ten minute extension giving you twenty minutes total. The quick accessibility to the messages allows you to “confirm” that the email address you are using is legitimate (although not permanent) for sites that allow you to opt in by replying to an authentication email. 10 Minute Mail doesn’t ask for any of your personal information and provides their services for free. This could be a great way to keep your real inbox free from spam and phishing emails. But once your time expires, your temporary email account is deleted along with all of the emails in your temporary inbox. So just make sure you don’t set yourself up to lose important information.  

2. Bug Me Not. If you want the convenience of membership on certain sites without the hassle (or risk) of giving out your personal information, this might be the right website for you. Here you can logon and search for a website of your choosing and find already activated usernames and passwords that will allow you access to sites that typically require registration in order to read articles or post in forums. Sure, you’re probably sharing a username with countless other people. But you aren’t putting any of your personal information at risk and you don’t have to deal with the hassle of spam or phishing emails. So, you can now logon to the local paper and read the news every morning without having your inbox flooded by offers and ads for the rest of the day.    

3. ID Secure. If you are bent on registering for all of these online accounts with your actual personal information, having another layer of protection isn’t a bad idea. ID Secure might greatly increase your peace of mind as well as the level of protection guarding your identity. For just $1 for the first month, and $12.99 a month after that, a professional identity monitoring company will use advanced web crawling technology to search the internet and public records to make sure that your social security number, credit and ATM cards and other personal information isn’t being fraudulently used in any way. ID Secure makes sure your identity is being monitored 24 hours a day seven days a week helping to keep it safe. If fraudulent activity is suspected, you will be informed immediately.

In an ever changing technological society, you must learn to use technology to help you fight identity theft and protect yourself. Next time you log online don’t login without using one of these great sources of protection. Remember, it’s your identity and it’s your job to protect it.