Secure Your Information

It’s now time to secure your information. Once you’re done with knowing, analyzing and organizing your information, you need to secure your information. This is the 4th and last step of the identity KAOS™ principles.

Your personal information categories are now defined and we need to address the level of protection you want to assign to each category while you share your information with caution. Some categories may have the same level of protection measures such as bank and brokerage statements. I personally have a locked file cabinet where I keep all the statements related to credit cards, bank accounts, brokerage accounts, utilities, etc. I keep all the credit cards, passports, social security cards, and government issued documents in the ECD (Extremely Confidential Documents) category and under tight control. The personal information inventory list created in the first step of this system, “Know your information” falls under the ECD category as well. You may consider a fire proof safe box at home or an external safe box to keep all your valuable items that include personal information. You may even consider using both safe boxes; use the one at home for most frequently used ECD items such as credit cards, and use the external one for least frequently used ECD items such as social security cards, passports, and other government issued documents.

Other security measures such as home security, travel security, computer security, and car security must be considered when establishing procedures for the security of your personal information or privacy of your client personal data. Go to the home page to visit the specific areas of interest. Or, visit this page for identity theft prevention articles after you learn about how to secure your information.