March 28, 2024

Protecting Your Identity

Posted on March 29, 2016 by in MoneyWise

The creativity of the criminal class continues to evolve. Therefore, you need to take additional steps to protect your identity, confidential data, and access to any computers or similar devices that you rely on, especially for financial transactions. This month we will look at a few email-related threats that you should be aware of and some tools to defend yourself from hackers.

Once it leaves your device, email can be intercepted by people you do not want to see it. Do not include confidential information that would facilitate ID theft in unencrypted email or email attachments.

Apr2016ComputerPadLockedIf someone hacks into your email account, lots of bad things can happen, especially if you are not even aware that they got in. The damage goes way beyond spam being sent from your email address. It could result in the hacker:

1. Reading your undeleted emails to get the name of your financial advisor and institutions where you have accounts, learning about your financial activities and habits, including deposits, withdrawals, transfers, how you request them, etc.

2. Changing your login credentials, creating a dummy email account for you that looks like the original, and having your incoming email redirected to a dummy account that they set up.

3. Imitating you via email to your financial advisor or institution, changing the address and/or phone number on your account, and requesting distributions to the new address or to a bank account the hacker set up in your name.

You also need to be cautious about (a) opening email when you do not recognize the sender or (b) clicking on links inside such email. To get you to do these things, criminals pose as senders to whom you might respond. I have seen emails that falsely purport to be from FEDEX, UPS, banks, credit card issuers, insurance companies, airlines, stores, and government agencies. Before you open such an email, ask yourself, “If this is legit, where did the sender get my email address?” Make double or triple sure before you click on a link in a questionable email. Among other things the link could load spyware onto your machine or lock it up until you send the perpetrator a ransom payment.

At this point you should be asking yourself, “How do I protect myself against these people?” The perfect defense does not exist, but generally speaking, the harder you make it on criminals to exploit you, the more likely they are to leave you alone—and bother somebody else. Here are a few tips:

1. Install and maintain good antivirus software on your machines. Have it scan your hard drive 1-2 times a week for problems.

2. Back up your data regularly after a scan.

3. Create and use strong passwords, a different one for each secure site that you access. Use a password to access your smart phone and a log-in password on your computer. One approach to strong passwords is to make them longer, perhaps repeating a shorter one 2-3 times. An example would be !M4u!M4u!M4u.

4. Use a password application, perhaps on your smartphone, to store your passwords for different sites. Face it; nobody can remember multiple strong passwords that have to be changed periodically. Let an app help you.

5. Be cautious about performing online activity involving secure data via public internet or wifi unless you know what you are doing and take steps to protect your data.

By following the suggestions above, you reduce your risk of becoming a victim of cybercrime and ID theft. Be careful when you venture into cyberspace.

Alan Wallace

Alan Wallace

Alan Wallace, CFA, ChFC, CLU, is a Senior Private Wealth Advisor for Ronald Blue & Co.’s Montgomery office, www.ronblue.com/location-al. He can be reached at 334-270-5960, or by e-mail at alan.wallace@ronblue.com. (4317629-02-16)

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