Pentagon Federal Credit Union, based in Alexandria, Va., sent a letter to its customers earlier this month alerting them to the security breach. A specific number on those affected has not been released by the credit union.

But the attorney general’s office in New Hampshire, has disclosed that the names, addresses and Social Security numbers, as well as credit and debit card numbers, of 514 credit union customers were improperly accessed. The state is one of the few in the U.S. that require companies to notify the attorney general of security breaches that affect that state’s residents.

PenFed did release a statement, however, that said there is no indication that the information has been misused, and no passwords or PINs have been accessed. The credit union has reissued credit and debit cards to customers whose privacy was compromised. It is unclear, at this point, whether the credit union has found the source of the attack.

PenFed serves almost 1 million members of active-duty military, Department of Defense, Coast Guard, Department of Homeland Security and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, as well as defense contractors.

Cyber attacks against credit unions on on the rise, mainly because credit unions have smaller budgets than big banks that have security experts on site.

The other issue is that the compromise occurred on a laptop. Laptops are easy targets for hackers because they are portable and used by many people on multiple computer servers. Laptops are often not as secure as a desktop computer.

The breach is still under investigation, and PenFed officials have said it may be years before the effects of this breach are known.

In the “Request for Permission” window, which is the one you have to accept before using an app on the Facebook platform, you’ll see “Access my contact information,” with the subtitle, “Current Address and Mobile Phone Number.”

Making these details available in Facebook, which is already packed full of rogue spam and spam applications, puts Facebook users at even greater risk of identity theft. With your full name and home address, a thief doesn’t even have to work hard to steal your identity. And you can’t even begin to imagine the SMS spam that will fill the inbox of the unlucky Facebooker that gives his phone number to the wrong app developer.

Is Facebook making the safety of its more than 500 million users a top priority with this move? Wouldn’t it be better if only app developers who had been approved by Facebook were allowed access to this information? Or better yet, wouldn’t it be more acceptable for the app to request it from users, rather than getting it automatically and without the users’ permission?

Here’s what you should do: Remove your home address and mobile phone number from your Facebook profile now. Never post any more of your personal information than is absolutely necessary.

Remember: it only takes a small amount of information for a thief to ruin your credit and your good name.

Airports all over the country offer free wireless Internet access, but hackers are making use of this as well. Hackers are using the service to set up fake wireless connections to steal passwords, credit card and bank account information and other personal information.

The terrifying thing is that very often in those situations, victims don’t even know their information has been compromised when they click onto a network or access point created by the hacker. And all the thief needs is a laptop two seats away from the victim.

A hacker with an iPhone or mobile device that has the capacity to create a Wi-Fi hotspot can also set up a fake connection simply named “Free Wi-Fi” or some other innocuous name. Many hackers use the name of the airport as part of the URL or link.

When you click on the link, you’ll be directly connected the hackers computer system as a conduit to the Internet. From that point, anything you do can be viewed by the hacker.

Experts warn consumers against public Wi-Fi. Be leery of connecting to the Internet with connections you don’t know in public places. You should also be sure your laptop isn’t set up to automatically connect to a wireless source.

Another warning is that while business travelers often quickly check or send e-mails in airports, many people often use their wait at the terminal to shop or pay bills. Be aware that if you connect to public Wi-Fi in a public place like an airport, it’s very likely your information will be obtained by a thief. And if you’re inputting your personal information, you can bet that information will be compromised.

How do you protect yourself? The obvious thing is to only connect to the Internet on a secure, private server. If you have to use public access, don’t input your personal information, and don’t surf. Do what you have to do and be sure to log off.

To be sure you’re doing all you can to protect your personal information, sign up with LifeLock.

LifeLock offers proactive protection, so no matter where you are and where you connect, if your personal information is compromised, you’ll be the first to know. And you’ll know before the damage can be done.

Sign up today. Receive 30 days free and get a 10 percent discount on enrollment with the LifeLock Promo Code “Defense.”

But is it safe?

Wi-Fi was born to be convenient, not secure. Unsecured, unprotected wireless connections are available everywhere, and when your device is connected to unprotected Wi-Fi, all the data stored on that device is available to a hacker with the proper “sniffing” tools.

Any wireless connection, whether in public, at home or at the office, that is shared with anyone with any wireless device, lacks encryption of the data packets streaming from the connected device. You can download an add-on to your browser to sniff out other devices using the same Internet connection, and to spy on their browser activity. Even if the person’s login is encrypted, once that person visits an unencrypted site, his or her data becomes vulnerable.

You should note that home or office Wi-Fi with a WEP encryption is slightly more secure. Wired Equivalency Privacy was introduced in 1997, and is the original version of wireless network security. But you should also know that WEP has been cracked, hacked and decimated.

A home or office connection with a WPA encryption is better. Wi-Fi Protected Access is a certification program that was created in response to several serious weaknesses found in WEP. WPA and WPA2 are tougher to crack, but not impossible.

Mobile broadband has a degree of encryption that has been cracked, but the necessary hardware isn’t widely deployed by criminals. It’s still more secure than others.

For the most security, use WPA2 wireless Internet from a home or office environment that isn’t internally shared. If you must go online when traveling, use your carrier’s mobile broadband and forego the hotel or a cafe’s free wireless.

And remember that identity theft can happen to anyone, regardless of how he or she connects to the Internet. To gain peace of mind, you should sign up with a proactive identity theft protection service – and the only proactive service on the market is LifeLock.

Receive 30 days free and get a 10 percent discount on enrollment with the LifeLock Promo Code “Defense.”