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[Nvyseal]

Pretexting has long been a tactic used by private investigators and others to obtain personal information and records about people. Also known as "social engineering" in the hacker realm, it involves using ploys to obtain data and documents.

Buy a TracFone. There's a reason law enforcement agencies hate disposable cell phones: They don't keep a call detail record.

Don't Tell on Yourself.A little bit of information can help scammers get a lot more; in the HP case, the investigators used the last four digits of their targets' Social Security numbers to authenticate themselves to the phone companies they tricked.

Choose Your Own Passwords. Companies love using Social Security numbers and dates of birth as authentication, despite the fact that neither bit of info is very private. Insist that your health insurance provider and phone companies allow you to use a customer-designated password or a unique identifying number instead.

Shred It. Cross-shred documents that contain personal information before discarding them, and do not leave such documents lying around where maintenance workers and visitors can see them.

Leave Your Vital Stats Offline. Do not publish your birth date or other personally identifiable information about you or your children on your MySpace or Facebook page.

Don't Pay Bills Online. Resist the urge. Online accounts put you at risk no matter what businesses say. Don't file your taxes online either. Yes, it's convenient. No, it's not secure.

See If You've Already Been Hit. To find out if you've already been a victim of phone record pretexting, contact your telephone company in writing to determine if anyone has requested your records.

Lobby for Change. Pressure your congressional representatives and the FCC into forcing phone companies to improve the security of customer records.

This is just highlights of the article, You can find the full article on Wired News