Fordulike mentioned that it would be wise to keep personal information away from the eyes of the world at large when on-line - and I've seen what can happen when people get careless:
Computers are a significant part of how I earn my living - and I'm well aware of just how easy it is to come a cropper through even mild carelessness. I've extricated friends from some truly nightmarish situations they've got themselves into usually by just a careless mouse click while the brain was in neutral.
I shudder to think how many computers end up in the cupboard under the stairs because they've got infected and the owners don't know how to deal with the situation, don't fancy trusting to the tender mercies of PC World, and either give up altogether or end up buying new when they should never have been in that situation.
Anyone wishing to defraud on a grand scale can do it on-line far more effectively, and with much less effort, than in almost any other area. Harvesting personal information can be done automatically and anonymously from wherever it might be found. Correlating that information from different sources is also easily done and with little knowledge of the techniques required - there are 'suppliers' of all the software a crook might need for a fraction of the revenue which might subsequently be made.
The less of your personal information you release on-line the better. Don't reveal any part of your address, family or friends' names, phone numbers, birth dates, or any other connections however tenuous. Social networking sites in particular are dangerous places because just chatting to people creates a trail of your footprints which can be followed.
A reputable website will not attempt to make you reveal any crucial information when you register, although there is usually somewhere where you can tell other members about yourself. Resist the urge to fill in such a profile, as it's most likely the other members won't be interested, but people who have designs on your identity probably will.
Rog.
Computers are a significant part of how I earn my living - and I'm well aware of just how easy it is to come a cropper through even mild carelessness. I've extricated friends from some truly nightmarish situations they've got themselves into usually by just a careless mouse click while the brain was in neutral.
I shudder to think how many computers end up in the cupboard under the stairs because they've got infected and the owners don't know how to deal with the situation, don't fancy trusting to the tender mercies of PC World, and either give up altogether or end up buying new when they should never have been in that situation.
Anyone wishing to defraud on a grand scale can do it on-line far more effectively, and with much less effort, than in almost any other area. Harvesting personal information can be done automatically and anonymously from wherever it might be found. Correlating that information from different sources is also easily done and with little knowledge of the techniques required - there are 'suppliers' of all the software a crook might need for a fraction of the revenue which might subsequently be made.
The less of your personal information you release on-line the better. Don't reveal any part of your address, family or friends' names, phone numbers, birth dates, or any other connections however tenuous. Social networking sites in particular are dangerous places because just chatting to people creates a trail of your footprints which can be followed.
A reputable website will not attempt to make you reveal any crucial information when you register, although there is usually somewhere where you can tell other members about yourself. Resist the urge to fill in such a profile, as it's most likely the other members won't be interested, but people who have designs on your identity probably will.
Rog.