The Internet holds countless benefits for us. Countless people depend on the Internet to make a living, whereas many others take advantage of online resources for educational purposes. However, the Internet also has a dark side, with many cyber threats unbeknownst to the ordinary user. Identity theft is one of those threats, the severity of which leads some people to use virtual private networks including PureVPN.
If a cybercriminal gains access to someone’s identity, great harm can be done to his/her privacy, personal data, photos, memories, and financial accounts. This means that if you yourself become a victim of identity theft, you might find it difficult to take out loans, credit cards or even a mortgage, among other things, until the issue has been resolved.
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A common attack vector for identity theft is a fake WiFi connection. You may feel safe when visiting a café and connecting to its WiFi hotspot to check your e-mails. However, that hotspot might not be e set up by the café team but by a hacker.
Remember that fake WiFi hotspots have a similar or identical WiFi name as the one to which you are trying to connect. However, as soon as you connect to it and start sending/receiving e-mails or other data, the hacker will gain access to all of your information.
Let’s take a look at what fraudsters can do with your identity details:
– Open bank accounts: A person can easily open a bank account if he has enough information, include DOB and address. Once the account is opened, any kind of illegal transactions can be processed through it, potentially negatively affecting your financial reputation.
– Obtain credit cards, loans and state benefits: A fraudster can acquire credit cards, loans and state benefits under your name. You would not have any idea that you owe a bank/financial institute a huge loan until you a dept recovery officer shows up at your doorstep.
– Order goods in your name: This is all too common with identity theft. All a fraudster has to do is to use your credit card details to order his favorite clothes, gadgets or even some expensive food. Once the money has been charged on your account, there is little to nothing you can do.
– Take over your existing accounts: By gaining access to your log-in details, a hacker can easily take over your social accounts and do whatever they want. This can ruin your presence on social media.
Recommendations
Acknowledging the threats discussed above, online users need some kind of identity theft protection.
So, what should you do?
First, you need to get yourself a good VPN account. Second, you need to make a habit of using a VPN time EVERY TIME you connect to the internet. It should be as important as locking your car after parking it. If you don’t have a VPN account as yet, get one from PureVPN. It is the best VPN service provider with loads of features and pocket-friendly plans.
By Fahad Ali, Digital Partnership Specialist, PureVPN
Since 2007, PureVPN has grown into one of the biggest players of the VPN industry. With continuously expanding server base, server locations, compatible software, data encryption tools, authentication protocols, customer support options and payment methods, PureVPN has been relentlessly working towards delivering the best value to its customers. The rapidly increasing subscribing base of PureVPN is testament to its success.
The opinions expressed in this post belong to the individual contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Information Security Buzz.