As we go into the new year, it’s important to be sure that our personally identifying information is kept secure from Internet wrongdoers. Here are some tips you can use to keep yourself safe!
1. Create Strong Passwords & Change Them Often
Your first life of defense against a wrongdoer who wants to steal your information is to make it hard for them to guess your password. One of the best ways to do this is to never associate anything in your real life with your password – that includes important names and dates. After you have created a strong password, you think about changing it again every four months or so, effectively making it a moving target for hackers.
2. Beware of Note-Taking Apps
It may be convenient to store important and hard-to-remember information on a note-taking app, but it makes it easier for someone to collect all sorts of information about you in one fell swoop. While remembering credit card numbers, your driver’s license number, Social Security number, new address, passwords, and the like can be overwhelming, you should think twice before laying it all out on a silver platter for a cyberthief.
3. Think Twice Before Connecting to Public Wi-Fi
Free Wi-Fi is great, but the potential for someone eavesdropping on your online activity while you’re connected to a public network is not great. What could someone potentially take from you over Wi-Fi? With the right tools in the wrong hands, anything from your login credentials to credit card information can get lifted from an unsecure network.
If you must make a transaction, it’s best to wait until you’re at home or on another safe network where you won’t have to worry about someone peeking in on what you’re doing.
4. Close All Unused Online Accounts
Maybe you abandoned an old email account or signed up for a free trial that you quickly abandoned. When you have a rogue account with a company online that you no longer use, you are at risk of having your information stolen. A breach involving just one of those accounts can mean someone gaining access to other information about you, potentially resulting in a cascade effect that ends in your identity getting stolen.
5. Purchase Identity Theft Insurance
Becoming a victim of identity theft can have severe repercussions, to say the least. Not only could someone who has gained access to your banking information clean out your accounts, but they could dismantle your credit score, too. Repairing these things and regaining what you lost isn’t easy, but having an identity theft insurance policy can help you pick up the pieces more quickly.
With policies as low as $10 per month, Insurance Specialists, Inc. can set you up with a policy that can respond 24/7 to help you get your life back to normal as quickly as possible. For more information about how we can help, reach out to us today and ask to special with one of our insurance specialists.
Get in touch by contacting us online or by calling (888) 451-0883.