It is Cyber Monday. All through the house goes the click of a mouse buying presents to be placed under the tree. While Santa is shopping the evil Grinch is trolling for your credit card information. I just read a news release by Cybersecurity expert Tony Perez. Here are some of the takeaways.

1.What are some of the most important things to protect you from Identity theft ?

• Don’t answer texts or emails from unknown sources.
• Don’t answer emails from the IRS because they don’t send emails.
• Don’t answer emails from Nigeria or other strange countries.
• Remove your personal information from your computer.
• Create passwords with numbers, characters and do not use your account name.

2. is it okay to have a website store your credit card information ?

It depends if they have a green URL certificate .

3.Should you have your social security number on medical documents ?

• You should try to avoid doing so if possible. If they require it, ask about how they protect your information.

Tennessee’s identity theft laws are lengthy. Here is a link to Tennessee’s law on identity theft.

The bottom line is to protect your online identity just like you would your wallet or your purse.