Securing Your Personal Documents at Home

When you think about information breaches or identity theft your mind often goes to e-mail hacking or major database breaches similar to the ones we have heard a lot about in the news lately, but there are also steps you can take to protect your personal information at home. Sometimes all it takes is a wandering eye, or accidentally tossing away a piece of mail with your personal information on it. In addition, in light of recent flooding events locally, and the massive wildfires experienced on the west coast, it’s never a bad idea to safeguard your information for protection from natural disasters and other accidents that may occur. We found a great resource about what types of items you should take extra steps to secure on “A Secure Life”

In the article, author Kimberly Kurimski discusses the types of information you should put away for safe keeping and three ways to store items: online, in a safety deposit box, and in a fire-proof safe in your home. Because of the nature of the various personal documents you possess, it’s important to consider their end use when deciding where to store them. Obviously you might want to keep medical records, spare keys, insurance policies, etc in your home for easy access, while items like passports, your marriage license, birth certificates, and the like can be stored in a safety deposit box at a bank, as you can typically plan for when you might need to access those items. The article also goes into detail about how to ensure that items you do store online are protected, so make sure you check out her post if you’re looking for a way to organize your personal documents. If you’re looking for the highlights, check out the infographic below that we created using the information from Kurimski’s article and get started protecting yourself today!