A hot point of conversation today without a doubt, is how secure people feel with their personal information being shared on the Internet.

How secure they feel, and how secure they are, I believe are two completely different matters. Feelings don’t necessarily trace back to facts. They are just feelings and nothing more. You feel hot. You feel cold. You feel secure. These feelings don’t illustrate awareness that everybody is hot, cold, or secure.

Feelings are personal, and go toward shaping your perceptions and opinions on the environments we find ourselves strolling through on a daily basis. I believe, in part, our feelings actually dictate what type of security measures we need to put in place, to develop our personal sense of security, to ensure if you will, that we feel secure. Sometimes this means, unfortunately, that we stick our heads in the sand to save our feelings are we are left searching in the dark for something to hold onto so we don’t feel stranded (hopefully we are not holding on to the handle that triggers the trapdoor we are standing on). Often, perhaps without reason, we take estranged comfort when somebody else tells us we are safe enough to worry about our discomfort.

Understanding the privacy and security means may go a long way to understanding if your personal information, is in fact, secure. Try purchasing a book that talks about security issues on the Internet to get the real story. Find out for yourself what secure, and what isn’t. Take time to understand what encryption is all about, and the differences between phone and cable Internet service providers (from a security perspective) if your frequent Internet banker. Less than 20 years ago, the Postal Service was the major security blanket we grew to trust as they handled most of our personal security information in the form of letters, documents and parcels. We could measure quite easily if something was missing, because it usually was the only way we could send or receive personal or confidential items.

Postal security is good for the most part over what they can control. There still is little protection against the person hiding in the bushes waiting to lift the letters from your mailbox. Your personal information remains at risk as long as it takes you to pick up your mail. If you are outside mailboxes unattended for long periods of time, try opening a post office mailbox that can be monitored for a small monthly fee. This increases your control over securing personal information found in many items you receive by mail. The P.O. Box becomes a monitored security system.

Today, with a steady flurry of commerce flowing back and forth the world’s borders are blurring more than ever. Different time zones don’t appear to affect a transaction closing in real global time, which really is no time at all. I won’t be surprised the day when we accept the concept of a global standard Time, in its natural progression towards standardizing of the commerce sales cycle and how the people who measure these things get a handle of just how many dollars are flowing back and forth, and to where and when.

The question, again, is how secure are we in the middle of this continually evolving, refining, and uniting infrastructure we have come to accept as the Internet?

Today we have no solid way to police or monitor all traffic, or kind of traffic, that travels on the Web. With the telecommunications financial fall of 2001, we witnessed from their balance sheets how many dollars went into creating this immense resource. It will not go away, it has only stalled midflight while the market catches up to the infrastructure that awaits its command. Individuals and companies are in the process now of redefining their communication needs to maximize this resources capability.

So here we are, in the transition state of privacy and security of the companies that hold our personal information in a digital file or database, fumbling to understand how to protect it to earn our trust. Though their intentions remain constant with keeping our personal information safe, they are learning to adapt. Criminals, sadly, are learning to manipulate their security measures as fast as they are implemented it seems.

How secure is your personal information with financial institutions? As secure as it can be, I suppose.

My mother taught me to not tell anybody anything I didn’t want to broadcast over the school PA system when I was growing up. It’s good advice to pass along when you want to keep a secret. Really what she was saying was that I’d better know exactly whom I’m telling my secret to, and that they truly are my friend before sharing. If we use the same words of caution for our personal banking information, we are doing the best job we can toward securing our identities.

Don’t share your personal information with anybody you truly don’t know anything about. This includes completing information forms for contest, draws or prizes or other medias that require you to first completed personal information section before they will give you something. If you liked contests and prizes, buy a dollar lottery ticket. Think twice before filling in personal information on a webpage. Put aside for a moment that the page clearly advises they are secure, and to trust them. Determine your sense of security on your own.

Do you truly know what this business is all about? Do you know where their physical location is, or are they an invisible merchant? Is there a risk they will sell your information to another company, or another person without your knowledge? Would you have any recourse if they did do this is to mark would you ever be able to prove the soldier information? Is it possible a hacker could sneak into their data storage facilities and steal all their clients personal files, including yours? These questions can go on and on, and they should in your own mind. It doesn’t matter how hard financial institutions try to protect your personal information, there’s always someone out there trying desperately to take it from them. If financial institutions are faced with this crisis, wouldn’t the little merchant selling a product on the Internet be susceptible to the same risks? Does this little merchant have the resources larger financial institutions have to throw against such a difficult issue?

It’s not just knowing who you are doing business with on the Internet that’s important, it’s a recognizing of the fact that nobody can assure you that your personal information is 100% safe and sound.

I enjoy the benefits of online banking. I think it’s great that I can do my banking on a computer anytime I want. They already have my personal information on file anyway. Financial institutions are also monitored, regulated, policed, and have deep pockets when it comes to research, development and security issues. They have sophisticated encryption systems because they don’t want to lose our trust. Without our money they don’t have a business. If, for any reason my security becomes compromised at some point, I’m confident the bank I deal with will correct the error and do what they can to make me feel protected again. No promises my information will remain completely secure, but they will come to the table to protect me as we saw with so many banks in the past when there online banking systems were compromised.

I don’t, as a personal rule of thumb, complete any form of identification collection request on any webpage, secured or not. I don’t use a credit card on the Internet for any reason, and I don’t fill out paper forms tipping my hand on anything that could be used to compromise the security if in the wrong hands. But don’t misunderstand me, I’m not a paranoid or fanatic about the subject even though I have a strong opinion, I simply have taken responsibility to protect my own identity, and I have preferred to not accept on words alone when some website tells me not to worry about my personal information being shared with an unsavory set of eyes. Where will the bank be if my identity is stolen, and my credit rating destroyed?

Let’s assume we are guardians of our own personal information, and we are charged with its protection. Perhaps we will think twice before offering our date of birth, social insurance number or address just anybody who asked for, “I can’t process your request until you give this information to me.” Try saying no to them to see their response. Try walking away and finding another merchant for the product or service you’re interested in before telling them more about your personal affairs. Why exactly do they need to know this information about you to sell you a product?

We live in an exciting age where communication and security go hand in hand. Be cautious. When spam comes through your e-mail pitching a service that can find you your best mortgage rates, or shop your application to hundreds of lenders at the same time, or will store your personal information in a safe place, remember this; don’t share anything with anybody you wouldn’t want broadcasted or an Internet chat site.

Continued in the Carol’s Borrowing Series Category of Clf.