In today’s highly electronic and virtual world, confidentiality is a greater concern than ever before. You need to protect more information more carefully because it is so easy to steal an identity, an idea or a concept, but you have to deal with the fact that there are more ways than ever to access information as well. If you are going to be an assistant, then you will likely have access to many pieces of confidential information including social security numbers, passwords, usernames, and credit card information.

In order to do your job as an assistant, you will likely need to use these pieces of information on a regular basis. However, simply locking up the codes in a desk drawer when you are done with them is not enough to keep this information confidential. You must also be very aggressive with virtual confidentiality so that you do not accidentally expose an employer to serious theft and other problems. Here are some ways that you can keep confidential, work-related information secure:

Never save passwords or usernames
Even if you are the only person who uses your computer, you cannot rely on internet security to block all forms of virus that could contaminate your computer and/or steal information residing in any internet-based account. The only way to keep your information fully secure is to resist the temptation to allow web browsers to save your info for faster access.

Do not email any confidential information
Even if your email is encrypted, the host of your email account can probably still read it. In addition, whoever hosts the recipient's email account will also have access. This is entirely legal, and you cannot do anything about it. Of course, in addition to this you cannot control where an email goes once it is out of your hands, so putting confidential information in an email is "begging for trouble" anyway.

Shred it all
If you have ever handled confidential documents before, then this probably is not new to you. Confidential information must be shredded. However, since it is so much easier than it used to be to steal an identity or use other confidential information maliciously, you should also dispose of the shredded papers in separate containers. This lessens the likelihood that the documents can be found and pieced back together.