When you consider your personal protection strategies, one of the first things to set up is protecting your personal information, or you risk identity theft.

I know all the bodyguard, secret service-like tactics are intriguing – remember, I served 8 years in special ops – but like I learned in my secret training, the best self defense is no self defense.

For my personal protection, I’d rather not have an engagement then have to defend myself against one.  Hand-to-hand combat  in the movies is sexy because the hero wins, in real life, it’s a lot more precarious.

So, I focus on protecting my personal information.  Because you are much more likely to be a victim of identity theft or credit card fraud then you are of being attacked by multiple assailants (something we address in our programs and a topic for another post).

Personal Protection is really about Personal “Self” Protection, looking after yourself in all areas, not just physical protection.

Some simple, preventative steps you can take now to protect yourself:

• Buy a shredder and shred any mail, bills, statements with your personal information, SSN’s and account numbers. I’ve read a lot of “spy novels” over the years and one of my earliest lessons was how much information was obtained from people’s trash.  Even US and Soviet ships would tail each other and pick up the trash bags thrown overboard.  The residents of Aliso Viejo, California felt shredding was so important they held a document shredding event (full article)

• Use password management software like (RoboForm for PC) or (1Password for Mac).  This is a simple way to manage the hundreds of miscellaneous passwords (and PIN’s) you use on the web without remembering a simple, easy to crack, word or phrase.  They can act as wallets too, so if you want to buy something online, you can simply choose which credit card and it will fill in all the requested information.

• Use virus protection and a complete computer security software, like this <—-

• Use a credit monitoring service provided by freecreditreport.com, transunion.com or identityguard.com (we are not recommending any at this time, do your own due diligence).

• Use credit cards vs debit cards when purchasing online as they offer greater protection.  And only carry the cards you need, on the days you need them.

These are just a few of the simple steps you can take today to protect yourself and your identity.   Personal protection and personal information protection are ongoing efforts.