Information Integrity

Your Info and the Web

admin — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Did you know everything you look up online is stored for all posterity? For example, search engines know when you look up “how does debt settlement work” and “what do I do about this rash.” It’s fine to continue searching the way you always have but there are some things you should never put out there on the web.
Your Contact Information: Have you ever typed your phone number or address onto a Facebook friend’s wall? That information is still searchable and you may be putting your identity in danger.
Your Embarrassing Photos: If the political elections of the past few years have showed us anything it’s not to put unflattering photos online. Even ‘deleted’ photos on social networks are still available for years to come – don’t ever have them posted if you don’t want someone to find them later.
Your Financial Data: OF course you know not to paste your credit card number all over the web but what about your past associations with credit card or utility companies. Before you take a crack at Time Warner on Twitter think about how that information could be used against you.

Reasons You Should Search Your Name On The Internet

admin — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Searching the internet for information is a daily task for many. But there is one more thing you should search for while you are browsing: yourself. There are many reasons why this is important. If you are searching for a job it is vital that information posted online about you is accurate and current. If you possess a very common name there may be many results to sort through. Any inappropriate pictures or cruel statements posted on social networking sites could come back to haunt you.Didn’t catch that? This explains it. If your search returns these things, you will need to take the appropriate action to clear your name. If you notice any incorrect information about yourself it is important that you contact the site administrator to have it fixed. Prospective employers may also be searching your name to gather background information before hiring you.
Searching your name frequently is also a good idea to protect yourself from fraud. When your name and personal information is placed in a directory it could be accessible online. It is important that any personal information, like credit card or social security numbers, cannot be seen. By searching your name, you can preclude any unwanted information from being viewed.

Have You Googled Your Full Name Lately?

admin — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Have you ever googled your full name? You might be surprised at what you find. Who would of thought there were so many people with the same name you have. Maybe you thought you were the only one, especially if it is a little different and you parents spelled it that way so you would be unique. Well, surprise, you aren’t, there are several more of you. You might find out that someone with your name died in a recent car accident at a young age, or they just opened their first art show.Check out this link here. It is really amazing and makes you realize how large the world really is.

You might find some things about yourself on the internet that you didn’t realize it would bring up. When you joined the women’s group last year, you thought no one new a thing about it and now it is on the internet and even talking about the hike you went on. If you belong to a social network, that will often come up also. The internet offers lots of information and it doesn’t take much to check into other people’s life. Google your name every once in a while and make sure everything that comes up is true about you. It is for your own safety.

The Importance Of Continued Credit Monitoring

admin — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Now it is more important to monitor your credit rating closely. There are constantly stories of people stealing mail, credit card info, or even using spyware on your computer to get access to personal sensitive information; too many ways to secure all of them. Your best tool will be to be vigilant. With the influx of internet shopping and online transactions, there has been a massive boom of ID theft and constant monitoring can help give you an extra level of protection. If you are targeted, swift reaction on your part will help minimize the damage. Depending on where you live, you can obtain a free copy of your credit report once a year, but often that will not be enough to protect you.

People seem to think that your credit rating is only used for major purchases like home, car, or credit cards. In reality, your credit rating is used for everything from setting up utilities to getting a cell phone. There are several services available to help your monitor your credit rating and help give you tools to fix any mistakes. Even small mistakes can cost you big points that left unchecked could take months to get back.The information doesn’t stop now. Keep looking: How can a credit report help you improve your credit rating?

Understanding The Intentions of Personal Firewall Software

admin — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0000

For one to understand the intentions of personal firewall software one needs to think of a locked door or a safe.
The intention of personal firewall software is to not let anything in or out of your computer it deems as a threat unless you say so, or at the very least least not without your knowledge.

Firewall software has been around since 1988 and basically what it does is secure your internet connection by filtering packets going in and out of your computer. Packets being information that is transferred between your computer and the internet. It tirelessly searches for threats that may harm your computer and or your internet connection. Having a personal firewall on your computer these days is just safe practice. Unlike in 1988 when the first computer worm was written which is why personal firewalls were created, such threats were not prevalent. The internet was in its infancy and firewalls for the home computer were not really necessary. Then came Windows 95 and the internet .com boom, threats and worms were starting to be written more vigorously. Since then it has been a race between the writers of these threats and security software companies to combat those threats.

These days new threats are being written every day and if you were to surf the internet without a firewall it would be safe to say that your internet connection and or your computer would be compromised within a week or less. This is why unlike antivirus software if your firewall pops up and shows you a threat or intrusion , you need to pay attention to it and not shrug it off.

Just think of your computer as a bank with a safe in it, there are lots of people that would love to get into that safe and take that money, right? Well that’s what a firewall does, it acts as a safe that secures all that precious information that you cannot afford to get into the wrong hands. That is the intention of personal firewall software in its simplest terms.

Using Identity Theft Protection Software Wisely

admin — Wed, 25 May 2011 00:00:00 +0000

My friend Alice spends several hours a day on the Internet and has a habit of surfing around on the Internet in the middle of the night. In addition, she keeps all her important business files and home files right on her computer hard drive. The idea of using Identity theft protection software wisely never occurred to her. Sure, she knew about the thieves who target unsuspecting individuals on the Internet and hack into their computers to steal important personal information, but still it never occurred to her that using identity theft protection software wisely could save her a lot of frustration and problems.

The trouble all started very innocently. Alice decided to purchase a brand-new laptop. She donated her old desktop computer to a local community charity. Well, my friend isn’t exactly computer savvy and left some important personal financial data on her computer. The new young computer owner found this information and contacted her. Alice should have thought of using Identity theft software wisely is a way to secure your computer and lock down information. Many password protect information, encrypt files, scan for viruses and other invasive programs. This is the only way to stay safe and protect your identity on the Internet.

The Power Of A Paper Shredder

admin — Sun, 08 May 2011 00:00:00 +0000

In today’s society, it is important to keep your information private and secure. If your personal information gets in the hands of the wrong person, your identity can be stolen, your credit ruined, and you will have to sort the mess out on your own. One way to make sure your information stays private is to destroy your old documents with a paper shredder. Depending on the model, you can shred multiple papers at a time, and some even allow you to shred old computer disks, credit cards, and checks. They vary greatly in price, and each has different capabilities. For the average user, a smaller capacity cross-cut shredder should be sufficient; a business may want to invest in a larger, diamond cut shredder. Either one is very easy to use, and requires very little maintenance (Shredder oil, for example, is inexpensive and one bottle lasts a long time. This is usually the only preventative maintenance that needs to be done on a shredder). Regardless, think of the purchase of a shredder as a type of “insurance policy.” The money and stress it could save you is well worth the price. Getting your identity back once it has been stolen is a long, hard process. Using a paper shredder is one of the most effective ways of preventing identity theft from happening.

Snopes.com serves as a premier internet fact-checker

admin — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 21:44:24 +0000

Urban legends have fascinated (and sometimes terrified us) for generations. When these legends are mistaken for truth, however, information integrity can be severely compromised. Snopes.com is one of the best-known fact-checkers on the interneta go-to resource for any type of overheard factoid, from old wives’ tales to hoaxes, celebrity gossip, and common mis-beliefs.The articles on the site are almost entirely written by Barbara and David Mikkelson. This devoted husband-and-wife duo has made a career out of correcting circulating rumors. They go through a variety of research and physical fact-checking to prove their point, such as tracking down President dollar coins to prove that they still say “In God We Trust.” Other recent rumors that the Mikkelsons have recently debunked include an upcoming cell-phone directory that will be available to telemarketers, and the rumor that Mars will be closer to Earth this August than at any time during our lifetimes.The site has definitely caught on with Internet users in the know, averaging around 300,000 visits a day and meriting write-ups in The New York Times, NPR, Reader’s Digest, and the Washington Post. The importance of verifying rumors can sometimes be directly related to safety, such as in the claim that dialing 77 on a cell-phone will connect you with highway patrol dispatchers. Ironically, David Mikkelson says most of these rumors pass on because of people wanting to be helpful. Other reasons may include showing off knowledge, proving people wrong about political matters, or expressing prejudices.In a sly twist, the Mikkelsons have even made up rumors to see how quickly they would spread. The result? Such claims, like that “Sing a song of sixpence” was a secret code used by pirates for recruitment, have appeared in books and on television showsas fact. It appears Snopes may have a lot more work to do dispelling rumors than they think.

On the red carpet at the Excellence in Information Integrity awards

admin — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 21:39:55 +0000

The Information Integrity Coalition (IIC) is one of the most excitingand importantnon-profit organizations working today. Their goal is to ensure that Information Integrity has a verifiable list of best practices, and that organizations and companies are held accountable. Infogix, a leading organization in the area, defines Information Integrity as “the trustworthiness and dependability of information. More specifically, it is the accuracy, consistency and reliability of the information content, processes and systems.”The IIC holds an annual awards ceremony to recognize both For-Profit and Non-Profit exemplars of the field. The judging panel is made up of individuals who are passionate advocates of Information Integrity. So who made the cut last November at the 14^th annual ceremony? The For-Profit organizations honored included Hannaford Brothers of Scarborough, Maine (Gold Winner), Kraft Foods, Inc. (Silver Winner), and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited from India (Bronze Winner). On the Non-Profit side, the Helsinki University Central Hospital won Gold, while EKI (a micro-credit organization operating in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina won the Silver. Arghyam, a public charitable water foundation set up in India, took the Bronze.It’s clear that the burden of Information Integrity lies heavy across a variety of fields. Whether you’re buying groceries or trying to fight India’s water challenges, you deserve to have all of the information in a reliable and easy-to-use format. The Internet is now offering more possibilities than ever before, but without groups like the IIC looking over its shoulder, it run the dangerous risk of growing out of control. The website should be updating their website soon with more information about the 2010 awards ceremony. Keep checking to see who is leading the way toward a fuller and more accurate Internet era.

Infogix Controls Solutions around the world

www.informationintegrity.org — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 21:34:31 +0000

Information Integrity, in a business sense, refers to the idea that information is accurate and sent securely. Infogix (tagline: “Information With Confidence”) has been working in this field since 1982, with Global 2000 clients including: life insurers like Allstate and Aflac; telecommunications groups like AT&T and Qwest Communications; energy organizations like BP and Bridgestone Firestone, and more. But what, exactly, does Infogix do? According to the company’s “About” page, their goal is to produce software to monitor and detect information errors. At the same time, Infogix Controls Solutions help to lower the risks of future errors while “increasing the effectiveness of regulatory compliance programs.”Infogix’s product line is specialized and applicable to a variety of computing environments. The Infogix Assure software suite is designed for distributed computing environments, while Infogix ACR is designed for mainframe environments. The Infogix Insight product gives users an overview of what Infogix Controls Solutions are doing for them, offering an easy way to see definitions, statuses, and histories. Infogix’s software touches on several categories of information integrity, from verifying content and format and detecting duplicates to tracking the process by which information is sent and received.Infogix also offers free services on Information Integrity issues. On July 15, for example, the company hosted a webcast in collaboration with TowerGroup, focused on eliminating information reconciliation issues. “Reconciliation” refers to the process by which bits of information are corrected by being compared to each other. Financial institutions, among many others, rely heavily on this process, but are usually plagued by inefficient techniques. Infogix offered this free webinar as a guide to increasing efficiency and workflow.Even if you can’t understand the specifics of the ways in which Infogix works, we can all agree that their goals are important in today’s Internet world. Whether you are dealing with information put up on Wikipedia or financial information collected from users, you want to know that there are ways of verifying this information. For plenty of organizations dealing with huge amounts of data everyday, Infogix provides that means.