Since 2005, around 100 American universities and colleges have reported security compromises, according to Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. Indeed, colleges and universities offer a treasure trove for thieves, who could use something as trivial as report cards to strike gold.

Identity thieves are often a step ahead of everyone, despite the technological know-how of the youth. So it pays to regularly upgrade the computer’s security and anti-virus capabilities. Many computers have locking features that ask for passwords from uninvited users.

Similarly, students shouldn’t be fooled by phishing, pre-texting and similar deceptions by tech-savvy thieves. Granted, identity scams have grown more sophisticated than before. Affinion Security Center has noted that they often pose as websites or emails from legitimate organizations, asking for sensitive data. The trick is to look for URLs beginning with https://. These URLs indicate a secured connection.

For all their technological advances however, identity cons know better than to ignore a classic: the rummaging-for-papers-in-trash-cans technique. Therefore, papers containing names, addresses, and social security numbers should be disposed of properly ASAP. If one can’t rip papers apart long enough by hand for them to be indecipherable, a good paper shredder is in order. Student affairs offices usually have one.

However, credit card-toting college students need to religiously check their statements first before destroying them. Credit monitoring services can help warn account holders of identity theft in progress.

For anything that requires a password, students should create a strong one that isn’t easily guessed. A good password can be a combination of characters and digits. Either way, no student should divulge his/her passwords and PIN numbers to others.

Affinion Security Center has compiled these tips from years of experience tackling cases of identity theft in colleges. An international leader in identity theft protection services, Affinion Security Center is a member of the Staples Security Council and the Identity Theft Prevention and Identity Management Standards Panel steering committee.

“There is a proportional and direct correlation between the amount of time your personal information is exposed and the total cost of resolving an identity theft,” according to Affinion Security Center CEO Tom Rusin. “IdentitySecure Monitoring gives us yet another way in which we can expedite the process of discovering a compromised identity, ultimately allowing us to more effectively detect and resolve a case of ID theft for our customers.”

The Affinion Security Center has included IdentitySecure Monitoring to Affinion’s already strong ID theft platform. This platform includes credit monitoring and internet surveillance of underground chat rooms. Together with IdentitySecure, the Affinion Security Center can monitor all major data sources for suspicious activities and discrepancies with members’ credit cards, credit files, social security numbers, and public records.

“Our partnership with Affinion delivers powerful identity protection capabilities to millions of consumers,” said IdentityTruth CEO Steven D. Domenikos. “IdentityTruth’s(R) Faster than Fraud(TM) technology provides an early warning system against impending identity theft and enables a consumer to take action against financial fraud before it becomes a costly and time consuming problem”.

Affinion Security Center is an industry leader in identity protection and data security solutions for corporations and individuals. The Affinion Security Center currently protects over 10 million subscribers with its services. The Affinion Security Center is a division of the Affinion Group, which provides a wide array of services under the Affinion and Trilegiant brands.

IdentityTruth helps clients protect their identity with advance notice of potential identity fraud, avoiding costly fraud. IdentityTruth can actually predict possible identity fraud, thereby saving its clients time as well as money.

Article source: Affinion Security Center Augments Personal Information Monitoring Capabilities