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How can I protect my Social Insurance Number and my SIN card?
There are a number of things you can do to protect your Social Insurance Number (SIN) and your SIN card:
- Only provide your Social Insurance Number if you know that it is legally required.
Contact Service Canada if you change your name, your citizenship status changes, information on your SIN record is incorrect or incomplete, or if there is a death in your family. - Inform Service Canada if your SIN card is lost or if you suspect that your SIN is being wrongly used.
For more information on how to protect your SIN, follow these tips!
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Don’t carry your SIN card with you unless you know you will have to show it that day, for example, when starting a new job. Store your card safely, for example, in a secure file cabinet at home or in a safety deposit box.
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Never use your SIN card as a piece of identification. Doing so puts your SIN and personal information at risk.
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Don’t provide your SIN over the phone unless you make the call and you know with whom you are dealing.
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Never reply to e-mails that request personal information such as your SIN.
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Protect your personal information and your SIN. For example:
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shred all paper records containing personal information once you no longer need them
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use confidential passwords that contain a combination of upper and lower case characters, numbers and symbols
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never use automatic login features that save user names and passwords on your computer
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use a personal firewall and anti-virus software on your computer system.
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