Protecting our clients is a major part of what we do here at M&H Consulting. We plan for disaster recovery, backups, intrusions by hackers and all sorts of malicious activity online. One thing that we often see is that many of our clients are not being savvy about protecting not only their business identity, but their personal one as well. Today’s blog examines just a few of the simple steps you can protect your online identity so cyber criminals with malicious intent can not gain access to your private data or sensitive information such as your identity.
Make Checks on Your Social Media Accounts
One of the places that cyber criminals search when looking to steal an identity is in the world of social media. Think of all the channels you own that may have details like your phone number, address, children’s age or school or even a short bio on who you are. All of these can be used by hackers to glean more knowledge. Limit the personal information that is out there and consider culling your list of “friends.” In addition, check your privacy settings so only “friends” can see your posts.
Update Your Passwords
Be sure you update your passwords regularly and use different passwords for for each account. This will ensure that if a hacker does get their hands on your password that it will not allow access to all of your accounts.
Check for the https://
Before entering payment details into any website, check the web address has an ‘s’ – which stands for secure – after the http. If it doesn’t, don’t use it.
Check Your Banking Accounts
Cross check your banking statements online to be sure that someone has not gained access to your name and login credentials. Checking can mean that you may catch a hacker who has stolen your identity before a credit company sets off a red flag.
Keep Your Networks Secure (In private and public)
Password protect your Wi-Fi so outsiders can not gain access and find a way into your private home network. In public, do not conduct banking or accessing private data while at a coffee shop or using public Wi-Fi. These are the least secure networks where a hacker could easily find their way onto your network.
Do you have questions about protecting your identity? Call M&H Consulting at 1-866-964-8324 or visit our website.
Categorised in: data breach, hacking, internet issues, IT Consulting Services, Security