An effective identity theft solution can’t only be the work of a single entity. You can take all the necessary steps to prevent identity theft, for example, but if your bank does not set up a proactive identity theft solution, then all the steps you took may be all for naught.

For the solution to identity theft to be successful, it should be the result of the collaboration among the consumer, industry, and the government:

For the Consumers

There are several ways that you can protect yourself from identity theft, you should take the necessary steps to prevent identity theft and it all boils down to two very important things, one is your computer habits, and second is the way you convey and receive personal data.

Protect your computer habits
-    Make use of passwords to protect your personal information
-    Visit only secure websites
-    Keep your anti-virus software updated and run periodic scans

Transmittal and reception of personal data
-    Make sure your firewall is set up to regulate data coming in and out of your hard drive
-    Make sure that your monthly banks statements and credit card billing comes to you securely. Having a locked mail box is one of them.
-    Avoid having to give out your SSN or driver’s license by offering to provide an alternate identification.

For The Industry

You can ensure that the industry does it part in protecting your identity, you must ensure that they have taken steps to prevent identity theft from happening in their establishment. As a consumer you have the right to demand a satisfactory service from them and you have the right to take your business elsewhere if they fail to meet your standards and you also have the ability to let others know of their dissatisfactory service.

The Government

Congress is in the process of crafting more stringent federal laws that penalize database managers who have second-rate security. Laws are also in place that allows you to have greater control of identity theft targets like your credit, for instance. Half the states have set us Credit Alert laws so you can prevent new credit cards from being opened under your name.

The observance of stricter identity theft solution probably set e-government in America a few years back compared to countries, but considering the dangers of the alternative, not many people are argumentative.

The consumer, the industry, and the government should work hand in hand in order to prevent identity theft. This will also ensure that steps to prevent identity theft taken by each entity will be successful, and that the problems it can bring will be brought to a minimal.

It is sad to realize that many Americans only think of identity theft protection when it’s too late.  We install firewalls and update our anti-virus software only after we have been infected by malwares and our browser hijack by these malwares. Or monitor our credit transactions only after we lost a significant amount of money thru identity theft and spent hundreds of dollars to fix our damaged credit reputation, do we finally acknowledge the need for identity protection.

If you’re one of the few diligent enough to be alarmed by the stories you hear on the news or alarmed by the number of spam you receive on your e-mail daily, then now is the time to act. Here are a few things you can do to avoid being victimized by identity theft.

Offline, the best you can do is to ensure that all your personal data are secure and that it is not easily accessible by just anybody, this includes carrying only the ID you need, so in cases that you’re wallet or purse gets stolen you will not lose any vital ID and make sure that you store it in a secure area in your house.

Also, any old bills, paper, envelope or any other document that may contain any personal information is not just lying around, if you don’t need it anymore, you should just shred it and throw it out, in separate bins if possible. Any old ID should be disposed of properly too, expired ID’s should be torn into several pieces and thrown in separate bins

Online, there are a couple of ways your identity. You can start by updating your anti-virus and anti-malware, also make sure that your firewall is turned on, this will help protect your pc from harmful malwares like browser hijack who takes control of your browser making it unusable for you.

Another way to keep your identity protected is to avoid being a victim of phishing scams, never open emails that you cannot authenticate, or email attachments that you’re not expecting, ask your friends to give you a heads up if and when they will send an email with attachment, this will help avoid downloading files that may contain malwares like browser hijack that will take over your browser and bring you to websites you do not wish to go to. Same goes for instant messages that asks you to click a link, no matter how enticing the offer maybe, do not click the link, you may inadvertently download the browser hijack software

Lastly, exercise your right to privacy, in any transaction, you don’t have to provide your personal details unless absolutely necessary, you can also determine if a certain company sends out periodical promotional announcements and/or phone calls, if they do, you can tell them not to inform you, this helps minimize unwanted messages in your e-mail and helps you determine which ones will fool you into downloading malwares like browser hijack and you can learn to avoid these messages and send them directly to the trash.