Over the past year, we’ve had the opportunity to work on an identity theft prevention project for one of our clients. In the course of our research, we collected tips and advice on how to prevent identity theft that we believe everyone should know about. It’s a broad subject so we thought we would start at the beginning, cover the basics, and share what we learned about passwords.

So here’s a list of Ten Things Every Consumer Should Know about Passwords and Identity Safety. Please let us know what we’re missing and we’ll add it to the list. Our goal is to put together a comprehensive PDF on how to Practice Safe Web for public download.

1. Never use your name, birth date, phone number, or any personal information that others could easily obtain.

2. Know how to create bulletproof passwords. (Check out: http://www.bsacybersafety.com/protecting_yourself/safepassword_article.cfm for more information.)

3. Use different passwords for different sites and change passwords regularly.

4. Never save your passwords on the computer.

5. Don’t share passwords with a friend, loved one, or spouse.

6. Don’t enable those “remember my password” features on your computer.

7. Don’t use someone else’s computer to access any of your accounts that require log-ins or passwords.

8. Enable password protection on the browser’s “key store” (where it remembers passwords).

9. Set the browser to require a password when you first run the browser or when you want to change/manage your passwords.

10. Take advantage of added layers of security offered by online account providers like banks and mutual fund companies.