At HV Shred, we want to take a moment to focus on one of our favorite topics—the concept of “Think Local First”. As small businesses across America struggle to keep their independent, locally owned businesses alive during the current economic downturn, the idea of keeping it local has never been more important. Recent national estimates…
This week’s blog draws our attention to the continuing danger of not taking our garbage seriously. Things we often consider junk mail too often end up as treasures for identity thieves who don’t consider it junk at all. Valuable data comes in the mail everyday: pre-approved credit card offers, notices from the bank or car…
Relying again on a favorite resource for the latest news in identity theft protection, this week’s blog comes from OnGuardOnline.gov. In today’s economy, Big Data is big business. And data brokers — companies that collect consumers’ personal information and resell or share that information with others — play a key role. The Federal Trade Commission…
College grads are already out for the summer and the grade school students will be close behind. Vacations are on the horizon. What follows are some gentle reminders while on vacation. Truly, these are best practices all year round. It’s the free feeling of vacation that leads us to want to reinforce common sense when…
Again, we use the HV Shred log as a space to share valuable resources. This week’s comes from The Internet Crime Complaint Center-a public/private partnership intended to help protect American citizens from internet crime. Here’s a scam we experienced on a personal level: The IC3 continues to receive reports of telephone scams involving calls…
Taxes are filed and it’s that time of year when it’s not too hot and not too cold to venture into the storage unit or attic to take stock of files that still need to be stored and files that are obsolete and should be destroyed. Many of us need to make room to get…
We hope you have come to expect valuable suggestions for best practices in Identity Theft Prevention from the HV Shred blog. Along those lines, what follows are some reminders about taking necessary precautions to secure confidential information. First, run a virus scan on a regular basis. Many people only ever run a virus scan…
We are just about to turn the calendar on another April the month when we put an extra special focus on celebrating and protecting our Earth and honoring Earth Day (4/22). As co-chair of the Dutchess Chamber’s Living Green Committee, I am happy to put in one last plug to invite one and all to…
The On Guard On Line is a regular source of valuable information for our weekly blog. A recent posting asked, “Have you gotten an email with the subject line “Pending consumer complaint” that looks like it came from the FTC?” According to Consumer Education Specialist Amy Hebert, the email warns that a complaint against the…
Workplace identity theft is a growing problem. To combat the issue, we need to hone in on how the thieves are obtaining our private information. The most common victims are little organizations with fewer than a hundred employees, in line with the most recent study by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners Report. Typically,…