SUMMER TRAVEL SEASON SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASES CHANCES OF CONSUMERS PERSONAL DATA BEING COMPROMISED BY ID THIEVES
Jim Stickley of TraceSecurity Lists 10 Tips Consumers Can Employ To Protect Themselves From Unsuspecting ID Thieves During Heavy Travel Season
BATON ROUGE, La. – (June 12, 2007) – It's not every day that an ID thief volunteers to share some tips to consumers, but Jim Stickley is no ordinary thief. Jim is paid by financial institutions to literally “rob” them, but in Jim’s case, he pretends to be the ID thief. Jim is what is known as a social engineer, and financial institutions use Jim and his company, TraceSecurity, to continually test and improve their security policies and procedures, which are designed to ensure consumers’ personal financial data remains in the vault and not in a thief’s back pocket. With the summer travel season gearing up, Jim offers up the following ten tips that consumers should practice while on vacation to ensure their personal data is not compromised by unsuspecting ID thieves.
Ten Tips Consumers Should Practice to Protect Their Personal Data While on Vacation:
- Bring travelers checks--Leave personal checks at home
- Only bring the credit cards you intend to use and never use your debit card as a credit card while traveling
- Write down the phone numbers of the credit cards you’re using in case you lose them or they’re stolen
- Limit your exposure by removing anything from your wallet or purse that you won’t need while on vacation
- Use Hotel registered Wi-Fi or land lines and don’t access web sites that contain your personal financial data or other confidential information
- Avoid carrying large amounts of cash and use traveler’s checks when possible
- Exchange currency before you travel
- If using an ATM, use the one(s) located inside, not outside of a building
- Keep all receipts
- When you return from a trip, be sure to review all banking and credit card statements thoroughly
“The summer vacation season remains a close second to the winter holiday season as being one of the most lucrative times for ID thieves to strike unsuspecting consumers,” said Jim Stickley, CTO and co-founder of TraceSecurity. “People are out of their element, have their guard down and are spending lots of money while vacationing during the summer time—an opportune time for ID thieves to strike without any knowledge by the victim.”
About TraceSecurity
TraceSecurity is a leading provider of security compliance and risk management solutions. The company helps organizations of all sizes to achieve, maintain and demonstrate security compliance while significantly improving their security posture. Key to TraceSecurity’s success is the company’s comprehensive patent-pending methodology that helps clients address all of the critical components of a successful security compliance program; people, process and technology.
TraceSecurity delivers its solutions through an integrated software-as-a-service platform backed by expert professional services and comprehensive security awareness programs. The company’s flagship offering, TraceCompliance Manager, is the first comprehensive solution to automate regulatory compliance audits, board level reporting, policy management, vulnerability assessment, and employee education and testing. The company’s expert professional services include onsite risk assessments, security audits, and social engineering. The security awareness programs include an exhaustive set of standard offerings as well as custom designed courses. With over 500 clients, TraceSecurity supports the risk management and security compliance efforts of organizations in financial services, healthcare, insurance, government and other regulated sectors. For more information, please visit www.tracesecurity.com.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
David Splivalo
Freestyle Public Relations
515-223-4343
david@freestylepr.com
