SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Jan. 28 /PRNewswire/ --

WHAT:  Consumers and businesses globally spend hours each day exploring the Internet for news, information, and communications purposes. Today's National Data Privacy Day serves as an important reminder that consumers need to protect their own personal information when accessing the World Wide Web and businesses need to safeguard the information which they are responsible for collecting and storing.

Identity Theft 911, a leader in identity theft services for businesses and consumers worldwide, offers the following tips to protect personal data and information:

1. Use credit cards for online purchases, not debit cards. Debit cards automatically deduct money from your bank account.
2. Only shop on secure sites. To see if a Web site is secure, look for "https" in the address bar. Also, there's usually a small yellow padlock logo at the right of your Web browser address bar.
3. Shopping Web sites have no reason to ask for your Social Security number, or passwords to your e-mail and bank accounts as part of the buying process. Never provide them.
4. Use different "strong" passwords (those that are more secure) for online retailers and your personal e-mail accounts. A strong password is composed of numbers, upper- and lower-case letters and symbols. For example, a password like "3Dogz$$!" is a better option than "1006."
5. Before purchasing anything on a Web site, read site reviews or blog comments by other people. Use sites such as Pricegrabber.com or Froogle.com (Google shopping) for comparing prices and to read users' reviews of the retail Web site.
6. Businesses should deploy a firewall that tracks network connections and application-level filters and firewalls that provide protection against Web-based attacks.
7. Develop a corporate security policy for every operational unit and perform annual security training of all employees.
8. Install central anti-virus software and anti-malware. Ensure that all hosts are receiving daily signature update.
9. Keep operating systems up-to-date, as well as installed applications with the latest security patches.
10. Be informed about network security trends. Security is not a product, but a process, and securing strategies are constantly changing.

WHO:  Identity Theft 911 executives available for comment immediately include:

• Adam K. Levin, Chairman
• Matthew Cullina, Chief Executive Officer
• Eduard Goodman, Chief Privacy Officer
• Ondrej Krehel, Information Security Officer

ABOUT:  Protecting more than 30 million Americans, Identity Theft 911 is a leader in identity management and identity theft remediation and resolution services to businesses and consumers on behalf of its 450 client institutions, as well as in comprehensive data breach preparedness (including incidence response plans), compliance, and notification and remediation services that are currently found in more than 150,000 businesses. Identity Theft 911 provides innovative, enterprise-level solutions and consumer education to Fortune 500 companies and emerging markets, many of America's largest insurance carriers, corporate benefit providers and a wide spectrum of other financial institutions, including banks and credit unions.

FOR PRESS INTERVIEWS:

• Andrew Worob, Ruder Finn, (212) 715-1536, woroba@ruderfinn.com
• Christopher Bacey, Identity Theft 911, (480) 316-0211, cbacey@identitytheft911.com

SOURCE Identity Theft 911

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http://www.identitytheft911.com