Spring has just sprung and with the first days of April comes that welcome reminder that the worst had passed. With that, the necessary task of spring cleaning comes along too. This year, in addition to tidying your home, consider tidying your digital home as well.

Tax fraud is a serious crime. Tax refund fraud itself affects millions of people every year and costs the government billions of dollars. In 2011, fraudsters stole more than $3 billion from the government via an estimated 1.1 million false returns. That same year, the Internal Revenue Service blocked more than 12 million false refund claims worth more than $40 billion.

There is no better time to shop online than the holidays, when the hoards of shoppers can sap your energy and holiday spirit.

But just be aware that the Grinch may be stealing the presents and he might be stealing your personal information if you don’t take precautions for safe online holiday shopping.

Whether you’re headed back to college, high school, middle school, or elementary school, the back-to-school season is now in full-swing! While students are getting back into the swing of doing things (school related), it’s also likely they will be spending more time on the computer... Laptops, tablets and other small electronic devices are becoming an integral part of a student’s life.

A strong password is an important protection to help you have safer online transactions. Here are steps you can take to create a strong password. Some or all might help protect your online transactions:

•    Length - Make your passwords long with eight or more characters.