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Starting with this issue of the Identity Management Journal, I would like to discuss the eight Identity KAOS principles used for identity protection in the Identity Diet program. For the interested readers, the Identity Diet book which I have written has just been released by iUniverse and can be purchased at the Identity Diet book site. I created the Identity Diet program with the primary objective to help prevent identity theft by addressing the root cause of identity theft which I consider to be identity obesity. Most people collect more personal information or identity components that they can possibly handle with respect to their identity protection efforts. As people (and companies) excessively collect, retain and share personal information, they become identity obese. As such, they need to take a hard look at their personal information and the way they manage them in order to trim their identity fat and apply best identity protection practices in their daily lives in order to protect their identities. It is said that 43% of identity theft cases can be prevented with proper protection of the physical identity components such as wallets, credit cards and documents. With that, let’s start by talking about the first identity protection principle in the Identity Diet program which is to know one’s identity components. Before we can start protecting our identities, we need to identify which exploitable identity components are in our possessions. For example, we need to know how many credit cards we have before we can identify their locations and details or decide whether we need any of them. This process is appropriately titled herein as "Identify Your Identity". As everyone’s list of identity components varies and is managed differently, the Identity Diet program is meant to provide customized identity diet and protection plans to reduce the unique individual risks. I will be talking about the other 7 Identity KAOS principles in future issues which you can also read on the www.identity-theft-awareness.com website or in the Identity Diet book. Websites To learn more about customized identity diet plans, please visit www.identitydiet.com. Also, visit www.theimi.org to learn about the Certified Identity Risk Manager (CIRM) and Certified Identity Protection Advisor (CIPA) designations offered by the Identity Management Institute (IMI).
Be Identity Safe, |