Can Your Identity Be Stolen When You Are Using Your PC Without An Internet Connection?
The general notion among people is that cyber identity theft occurs only when they are connected to the Internet. Yes, most of the identity theft approaches are through the Internet. Your identity can be stolen by the spyware, adware, viruses, and so many other devices that are commonly known to people. There is a lot of protection against them too, and once the firewalls are set up and protection software are installed, people do not think about it much. But what you really need to think about is that your identity can be very well stolen from your PC even if you are not connected to the Internet. Even when you have not yet obtained a Internet connection for your computer, you can become a victim of identity theft through it.
And it is not just on public computers where this can happen. The following are some methods how your identity can be stolen when you are offline and what safeguards you can make against it:-
When you are using a public computer, or if your own computer is being used by other people, sensitive information can be stolen. You can restrict usage of other people by locking and password protecting your PC, but remember that this too is not a complete security.
People can still log into the PC and can enter into the file system and obtain information. A better option is to password protect a certain drive and use only that drive when you are doing your personal work. Also, download a file shredder software and destroy all documents you will no longer need. Simply deleting and even emptying the recycle bin is not a permanent solution for removing the files.
Be very careful about your peripheral devices like the disks and removable devices like data cards, etc. These can be very easily stolen, or even dumped on other computers without your knowledge. Secure these peripherals in a place where no one will be able to get to. You also get physical CD shredders where you can completely destroy the disks that you no more need.
Some people have the habit of pasting their usernames and passwords on places near their computer on walls, office cubicles, etc.
If your business computer has floppy disk drives on it, you may want to consider removing them. A would be thief can override your system by creating a bootdisk and inserting into the drive. This will effectively bypass all security software on your computer and make it vulnerable to all different types of malicious software. Many businesses have already taken this step in an effort to keep thier systems safe.
It is not even necessary to say how dangerous this can be. Even in the office, someone can enter into your account and use it for willful means. The best way here is to either commit all the usernames and passwords to memory or to put them in a very secured place.
If you have an Internet connection but you are not using it for the moment, you still need to be careful about your usage. There might have been a spyware installed on your computer and that will keep working, whether online or offline. As soon as you are online again, this spyware can transmit information from your PC to its source. Having an antispyware program is must if you have an existing Internet connection on your PC.
Be cautious also when you are discarding your old hard disks. Even if your hard disk has crashed, some data can be retrievable from it. Hence, you should not just discard them carelessly.
Safeguard against this by making some holes on the hard disk or trying to physically burn it before throwing away. If your hard disk is still working and you are planning to change it for a newer one, you could use a data wipe program or a file shredder program to remove everything from your data. Simply deleting files will not help, because data is always retained on the disk until you remove them permanently.
Whether it is online or offline, your PC can be used to steal your identity. You must be aware of the methods the criminals use, so that you can be always one up on them
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