Seems like every day we hear
of another security breach opening up millions of bits of private data to
miscreants foreign and domestic. The
most recent hack to U.S. federal personnel files is reported to have originated
in China, and compromised the social security numbers and employment history of
some four million former and current federal workers. Home Depot, Target, The Gap and several other
companies have experienced recent hacks.
The proverbial horse has left
the barn. Today every facet of our lives
involves having personal information online.
Some information is stored on our personal computer in our home and some
is stored in servers around the globe.
You really can’t opt out. If you
shop, file your taxes, receive social security benefits or just have a bank
account, information about you is stored online. The current push to digitize
your medical records provides very personal information to both care givers
(that’s good) and someone looking to make a quick buck (that’s bad.)
So what are we to do? Frankly there is little you can do to protect
your personal information once it leaves your possession. We need to strengthen systems used by government
and commerce to better safeguard our collective data. Encouraging our elected officials and leaders
to make this a top priority is a good start. The sad truth is that once the
data is out of our control it is susceptible to being hacked. But there are things you can do to keep your
personal information stored in your home computer safer. Here are a few suggestions:
Don’t give out personal
information on the phone. Social
Security numbers, bank account numbers and names and birth dates of family
members should never be shared on the phone or on line. If a bank calls and asks for this
information it is a scam. They already
have the information they need. Same for
passwords. Never give your password to
anyone. The bank doesn’t need it and the scammer does.
Use credit cards only with a
trusted vendor on line or via the telephone.
If you do a lot of online shopping setting up a PayPal account is a good
idea.
Don’t use the same password
for all your online activity. If it is
compromised all of your accounts from Facebook to your IRA might be open to the
world.
Don’t use a default password
that came with your account or device. They
are widely known and easy to guess. A
recent study showed that many people never change the password from the one
first issued.
Make the password hard to
guess. Your kid’s first name, your
birthday or street address area not very hard for someone up to no good to
figure out. A password should not be a “word.” but rather a series of letters, numbers
and symbols that are random.
Make a habit of looking at
your online accounts and regular paper bills.
It is amazing how many people don’t go over line by line their credit
card statement or monthly bank statement.
There can be fraudulent items lurking in your phone bill. The scammers count on the fact that you will
not notice small debits on your credit card or mobile phone statement.
At least for now we are not
going to stop identity theft completely.
Perhaps with better security systems using voice recognition or finger
print sensors, we will be able to better protect our digital lives. For now just use good common sense and don’t
stress over what you can’t change.
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