I have a question you might not have thought about. How does your child's school handle their personal information? The reason I think you might not have thought about it is because I haven't. And now I'm concerned that I should have.

My daughter's school is going through standardized testing, and the kids are asked to provide their Social Security Numbers for the testing. The problem is, most of the kids don't know those numbers. Nor do I believe that they should. So the school pulls every child's number up, reads it out to them in class, and asks them to write it down a sticky note. Really?

Yes, really. What happens to the notes when the kids are done? Um...my daughter had no idea. She lost it somewhere. Now, suddenly, I'm very concerned about my child's identity. What are your thoughts? Share with us in the identity theft forums.

Imagine getting a text message from your bank that states your account has been compromised and you're to call a phone number listed in the text immediately. Then, when you call the number, it's actually an automated system designed to collect your banking or credit information for phishers. This is one of the newest types of phishing scams to circulate.

If something like this comes to your cell phone (or your email box, telephone, or any other way), ask yourself some questions. How did the creditor/bank get your cell phone number? Even if you gave it to them, did you agree to allow them to communicate with you via text message? Has your bank ever communicated with you using this means before?

Phishers will do whatever's necessary to get to your personal information. Protect yourself. Think before you respond. And when in doubt, call the bank or creditor directly using the number that's listed on your statement.

If you have a television, then you've probably seen the free credit report videos. They're wildly popular, and I even know teenagers that use the jingles for their ring tones. I guess you could say it's something of a pop culture phenom.

Being a pop culture phenom doesn't make you right, though. And the thing about those free credit report commercials is that the services they're advertising aren't really free. You'll end up paying some monthly fee if you use those. The only truly free credit report comes from www.annualcreditreport.com.

In an effort to help spread the word, AnnualCreditReport.com has a new series of videos to help debunk those you are already seeing on tv. Let the video duel begin.

I don't often toot my own horn, but I am going to today. I have a new series of video training courses available at ClipTraining.com. This series of courses is designed to go along with the Social Engineering courses that I've pointed out to you all earlier this year.

The series of courses that I did is simply titled Identity Theft and there are 8 clips in the series. I cover everything from what identity theft is, to what you can do if you're victimized by identity theft, so check it out. You'll need a free membership to access the clips, but I think you'll find they're worth the efforts.