Tips to make your inbox less vulnerable to identity theft

Identity theft continues to be a big concern among Americans who engage in online transactions, and for good reason. Last year, an FTC survey found that 8.3 million American adults were victims of identity theft in 2005, and an alarming 85 percent reported that one or more of their existing accounts had been misused. Those accounts included email, credit card, banking, medical insurance, and other Internet payment accounts.

Now you may not give this much thought, but your email account is a prime target for hackers because it holds sensitive information about you that puts you at great risk of identity theft. Think about it. When you open an online account, you're likely to get an email that contains your username and password, and if you're like most Americans, then you probably keep those emails in a folder for future reference. Oftentimes, we forget to delete these emails, or get comfortable with our online filing system, so we just have to be careful with whatever method we choose.

Here are a few tips to help you keep your inbox clean, and your identity safe:

• One problem many of us face is remembering multiple passwords and usernames. Instead of writing them down, or keeping those password emails in your inbox, you should create high, medium, and low security passwords you can remember. Becky Worley had some great advice on giving your accounts a password makeover in an earlier post.
• Faxes, contracts, and other important documents are being sent through email as attachments. If these attachments contain sensitive information, I recommend you save them to an external hard drive or a location only you know about, and then delete them from your inbox.
• Delete any sensitive email in your inbox that contain passwords or financial information, especially if you receive banking alerts with account balances.
• Remember, if you lose your iPhone or Blackberry, anyone who finds it gains access to your email too. Always delete emails you don't want anyone to ever read, and put a password on your phone for extra protection.
• Never forward sensitive information to anyone. Remember, they are as vulnerable as you are.

Next up, I will tell you how to set up a hacker alarm on your inbox, so you know when/if hackers access your account.

Related:

Most Common Passwords
Password Makeover
How do they crack your password?
How to Pick a Genuinely Secure Password