INFORMATION IS COLLECTED FROM EVERYONE

HOW TO KNOW

YOUR PRIVACY IS BEING PROTECTED

Privacy policy - Before submitting your

name, email address, or other personal

information on a website, look for the

site's privacy policy. This policy should

state how the information will be used

and whether or not the information will

be distributed to other organizations.

Look for indications that you are being

added to mailing lists by default—failing

to deselect those options may lead to

unwanted spam. Privacy policies

sometimes change (ie Facebook) so

you may want to review them often.

Evidence that your information is being

encrypted - To protect attackers from

hijacking your information, any personal

information submitted online should be

encrypted so that it can only be read by

the appropriate recipient. Many sites

use SSL, or secure sockets layer, to

encrypt information. Indications that

your information will be encrypted

include a URL that begins with "https:"

instead of "http:" If data is encrypted in

transit but stored insecurely, an

attacker who is

able to break

into the

vendor's

system could

access your

personal

information.

Newsletter Date

When you visit a website, a certain amount of

information is automatically sent to the site. This

information may include the following:

IP address - Each computer on the internet is

assigned a specific, unique IP (internet protocol)

address. It’s like a street address for your

computer.

domain name - You can identify the domain by

looking at the end of URL; for example, .edu

indicates an educational institution, .gov

indicates a US government agency, .org refers

to organization, and .com is for commercial use.

software details - It is possible for an organization to

determine which browser, and operating system

that you used to access its site.

page visits - Information about which pages you

visited, how long you stayed on a given page,

and whether you came to the site from a search

engine is available to the organization operating

the website .

If a website uses cookies, the organization may be

able to collect even more information, such as your

browsing patterns, which include other sites you've

visited. If the site you're visiting is malicious, files on

your computer, as well as

passwords stored in the

temporary memory, may

be at risk.

PRIVACY - HOW ANONYMOUS ARE YOU?

Created by the

375AMW

Information Assurance

Office

PROTECT YOUR PRIVACY

LIMIT THE AMOUNT OF

INFORMATION COLLECTED

ABOUT YOU

Newsletter Date

Do business with credible companies - Before supplying any

information consider the answers to the following questions:

do you trust the business? is it an established organization

with a credible reputation? is there legitimate contact

information provided?

Do not use your primary email address in online

submissions - Submitting your email address could result

in spam. Consider opening an additional email account for

use online. Make sure to log in to the account on a regular

basis in case the vendor sends information about changes

to policies.

Avoid submitting credit card information online - Some

companies offer a phone number you can use to provide

your credit card information. This eliminates the possibility

that attackers will be able to hijack it during the submission

process.

Devote one credit card to online purchases - To minimize the

potential damage of an attacker gaining access to your

credit card information, consider opening a credit card

account for use only online.

Avoid using debit cards for online purchases - Debit cards

normally do not offer the online protection that credit cards

offer.

Take advantage of options to limit exposure of private

information - Avoid allowing a website to remember your

password. If your password is stored, your profile and any

account information you have provided on that site is readily

available if an attacker gains access to your computer. Also,

evaluate your settings on websites used for social

networking. The nature of those sites is to share information,

but you can restrict it.

Be careful supplying personal

information - Unless you trust a site,

don't give your address, password, or

credit card information. Look for

indications that the site uses SSL to

encrypt your information Although

some sites require you to supply your

social security number (e.g., sites

associated with financial transactions

such as loans or credit cards), be

especially wary of providing this

information online.

Limit cookies - If an attacker can

access your computer, he or she may

be able to find personal data stored in

cookies. You may not realize the

extent of the information stored on

your computer until it is too late.

Browse safely - Be careful which

websites you visit; if it seems

suspicious, leave the site. Also make

sure to take precautions by

increasing your

security settings,

keeping your

virus definitions

up to date and

scanning your

computer for

spyware

PRIVACY - HOW ANONYMOUS ARE YOU? PAGE 2