Take Caution When Filing Taxes Online
Posted on April 7, 2008
As the April 15 tax deadline approaches, students are urged to use caution when filing their taxes using public computers, including those at Northwestern.
Dan Maughan, T5 chiropractic student, and associate manager for Prepaid Legal and Idenity Shield, said there are simple steps to project yourself from identity theft this tax season.
1. Always use a secure Web site, which scrambles or encrypts information so it is more difficult to access. Sites that are secure will begin with “https” with the “s” indicating secure.
2. If you access financial sites from public computers, reboot them when you are done to clear history and settings.
3. If you need to print or save files, use a jump drive or disk. Never save them on the computer you are using.