Here are a few tips on how your can reduce your risk:

• Reduce access to your personal identification. Don’t make it easy for identity thieves by sharing your home address, birth date or phone number online.

• Enter your name in search engines to find out what information has been posted about you. Contact these Web sites to determine if your personal information can be removed.

• If you have a Facebook or MySpace page, customize your privacy settings. Allow only Friends or Friends of Friends to see your profile. For maximum security, set your sharing settings to “Friends Only.”

• Ask your friends not to post photos of you or tag you in photos without your permission. Tagged photos that include your first and last name can be found by anyone looking for you on Google or other search engines. Be sure to remove your last name from any tagged photo and use privacy settings to restrict who can see photos of you online.

• Avoid playing games or answering quizzes on social media sites. These programs may access the personal information in your online profile. Your risk of identity theft increases if your personal information is shared with third parties or accessed by a hacker.

• Think twice about posting your travel plans. Do you really want everyone to know you are out of town and that your home is unoccupied?

• Lock out hackers and online thieves with anti-virus software and if you have children, install an adult contact clocking program.

• Children are especially vulnerable, so insist they never share personal information with anyone. Use privacy settings to restrict who can access and post on your child’s Web site or profile.

• Explain to your children that the content they post online, whether by computer or cell phone, will remain on the Internet permanently.

To protect your good name and look after your personal information 24/7, sign up with LifeLock.

LifeLock monitors for credit and non-credit related threats to your personal information, even when you aren’t able to. And if any problems are found, you’ll be notified immediately.

And if your identity is every compromised while you are under LifeLock’s watch, LifeLock will spend up to $1 million to make things right, and you’ll have a LifeLock customer representative to help you get things back in order.

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

The majority of social network users polled by AVG Technologies said they were concerned about becoming victims of online crime such as malware attacks and identity theft, but also said they weren’t taking even the most basic steps to protect themselves.

Half of the survey respondents said they are very concerned that their interactions on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook could lead to identity theft, but 64% say they rarely or never change their passwords—one of the most common security recommendations.

Other findings:

• 57% rarely or never adjust their privacy settings.
• 21% accept contact offerings—“friends”—from strangers.
• 64% click on links from contacts or other members.
• 26% share files within social networks.
• More than 50% let other people go to social networking sites on their computers.

All these bad behaviors haven’t been without consequences:

• 55% have been the target of phishing attacks.
• 47% have been infected with malware.
• Almost 20% have become identity theft victims.

Facebook and Twitter have been repeatedly attacked by hackers or malware, placing, at least, hundreds of thousands of users at risk, increasing the importance of safer cyber networking activities, and antivirus software updates.

“More frequent breaches and outbreaks on popular social sites are a testament to the need for a more preventative mindset and threat-alert culture among community users,” said Donovan Neale-May, executive director of the CMO Council, which co-authored the poll.