The core problem besides the fact that the information are stored without protection is that most users have them scattered around on the computer’s hard drive. Places to look first are the documents folder and email clients, but there are other locations where information may be stored.

Identity Finder has been designed to prevent identity theft by scanning a computer for personal information. The findings are then displayed in the program interface to alarm the user of their presence, and tools are offered to deal with the information.

You can start a basic scan right away, use the search wizard to customize the search or load the advanced interface which enables the program’s full feature set. Identity Finder can locate credit card numbers, passwords, bank account numbers, email addresses, phone numbers and a variety of other information during searches. One of the program’s strength is the ability to create custom keyword searchers for information (like a name for instance).

Identities for additional countries (Australia, Canada and United Kingdom) can be included in the search as well. The standard scan processes all files in My Documents, email mailboxes and web browsers locations. Advanced users can add the Registry to that and custom locations that they want included in the search.

The time it takes to finish an identity search on the computer depends largely on the selected locations, parameters of the search and the computer’s performance. Scans not only look at file names but also inside documents to find personal information. Advanced search options are listed in the settings. Here it is for instance possible to include mapped network drives and shadow files in the scan, or to ignore certain file types that you do not want included.

When it comes to email, Identity Finder will search Outlook, Exchange and Thunderbird mailboxes automatically. You can enable additional programs (Outlook Express and Windows Mail), files (Outlook PST files) and mailbox files in the program settings.

You can also locate exact identity information during scans. Identity Finder can be configured to scan for specific credit cards, bank account numbers or other values of importance.

Search results are displayed in list form afterwards. A results wizard can be used to walk through each result individually. Actions depend on the location and type of information. Identity Finder can suggested to securely delete information (for instance emails) or to secure the file type (for instance a Microsoft Office document) to protect the information from third parties. Securing items usually means adding password protection to prevent unauthorized access to the files.

Secured files are kept in their original location. An alternative is the quarantine option to secure and move the file to another location and shred the original file in the original location, and the scrub option to remove the information from the selected file.

Identity Finder ships with a set of security tools that further enhance the program. Tools available include a password vault to store passwords securely in the program, a file vault to store files securely, a file shredder to delete files permanently from the computer or a browser security module which for instance reminds Firefox users to set a master passwords if they have passwords saved in the browser.

Scheduling and logging options are available as well. Scans can be scheduled to run regularly using the built-in task scheduler. Professional users can make use of the program’s logging and report generation features.

Feature Overview

• Find Credit Card Numbers and Passwords, SSNs, Bank Accounts, DOBs, Phone #s, Driver Licenses, Personal Addresses, Canadian SINs, Australian TFNs, UK NINO and NHS #s, and more
• Create custom searches using keywords or regular expressions
• Search browsers such as Firefox and Internet Explorer (Windows Only), files within the My Documents Folder, on local or removable drives, shadow volumes, previous file versions, emails and attachments, and the Registry
• Supports both common document file types such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Adobe PDF, text, html, rtf, compressed files and all other file types
• Options to securely delete or password protect files, scrub information and to quarantine files are available
• Identity Finder integrates with Windows Explorer
• Results can be saved, printed or export as web page or CSV files

Verdict

Identity Finder Premium is an all-in-one program to find and secure personal information on a computer system. The ability to create custom search parameters, logging and reporting, along with multiple options to handle information that are found on the computer leave little to desire.

Interested users can download the free – limited – version of the program from the company website.

Giveaway

We have 14 Identity Finder Premium licenses for the giveaway. Leave a comment below to be included in the draw. Let us know what you would use the program for.

There have always been a huge variety of hard disk wiping packages available from third-parties, but did you know that Windows 7 has it’s own free in-built tool for securely erasing, not just whole hard disks, but specific folders as well?

The cipher.exe tool has been around for years now and is used for managing the EFS (Encrypted File System) feature that preceeded Bitlocker and was first introduced with Windows 2000.  It’s run from the Command Prompt (as an Administrator).

With Windows 7 though Microsoft have added a new switch to the tool, and it’s one you should definitely use with care!

 The command is Simply cipher /w x:\folder where you would substitute x:\folder for the location you want wiped, for instance your D:\ drive or your C:\Users\Mike Halsey\Music folder.

This will write a series of 0s, 1s and then random characters to every sector of the drive or folder to securely erase the data that’s stored there.  Believe me, if you do this casually you’re not going to get your data back afterwards.

Microsoft say that this feature is here for clearing empty folders and drives that need to be erased, and it’s an excellent way to save money on expensive third-party software.

So the next time you’re upgrading your hard disk, don’t waste your money, just cipher the thing instead.

The figure means that 66 used hard drives out of 100 sold would contain data data about the previous owner. Half of that number would still mean that every third used hard drive sold would contain personal data. The figures seem to grow worth instead of better with every passing year. Researchers seem to concentrate on hard drives but digital cameras or mobile phones might reveal the same amount of information including personal pictures, documents, contacts and even credit card or bank account information.

How can users protect themselves and their data? The easiest way would be to stop selling used hardware that contained data at one point. That solution is not always practicable though.

The user should make sure to make the data on the storage device unrecoverable. One of the best tools for that purpose is Eraser which can be used to clear the free disk space so that the files “underneath” cannot be recovered with file recovery software anymore.

Any tips that you might want to add? Let me know.