Tips to Protect Your Information Online
Although it may be challenging to maintain privacy on social media, taking sensible precautions can provide you with peace of mind. Here are steps you can take to protect your information.
Turn on privacy and turn off global sharing. Review privacy settings for each of your social media profiles. Limit access to only those on your friends list.
Don’t overshare. Sharing or reposting surveys may seem innocent when they’re about your pets and childhood. However, those “innocent” posts could provide fraudsters with answers to security questions for your accounts.
Don’t be too trusting. Not every person on social media is who you think they are, and your friends’ accounts have the potential to be hacked or faked! If it’s not someone you know and trust, or if you haven’t chatted with in a while, proceed with caution.
Share after your vacation is over. If you post pictures while on vacation, you’re advertising online that your house is empty and vulnerable. Save your posts until you’re back home.
If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Fraudsters will create fake profiles that may promise money, jobs, other gifts, or request contributions from you. Do not give out personal information in return for false promises – and only send money to people you know and trust.
Remember to review your cybersecurity and account settings regularly to be sure your information is secure and up to date. That includes multi-factor authentication and strong, unique passwords for all your accounts.
Explore more about password protection and cybersecurity at visionsfcu.org/security.
If you believe your account or personal information has been compromised, call us at 800.242.2120. You can also report cybercrimes to the Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov.
This article first appeared in MoneyMatters Magazine. Click here to continue reading our current publication.
