The Federal Trade Commission offers five tips to consumers to help protect their personal information online. Following these tips can help you keep your personal information private when you are online.
Watch Out for Impersonators
- Don’t give out personal information over the phone, through the mail or online unless you know who you are dealing with. If you get an email from an organization that claims to have an account with you asking for personal information, don’t click through the link! Go directly to the organization’s website and verify that the email originated with them. Some hackers create very realistic looking emails and many people have been deceived – so protect your personal information by verifying the source of the request first.
Securely Dispose of Personal Information
- Never dispose of data containing devices without being certain that your personal information will be properly destroyed. Restoring an operating system or reformatting the hard drive are not enough to securely destroy your data. Contact us if you have concerns about the destruction of the data on your data containing devices – computers, laptops, smart phones – data destruction is our specialty and a service we provide to consumers and businesses.
Use Encryption Software
- To protect any online transactions, you should use an encryption software that will scramble information you send over the Internet. You should see a “lock” icon on the status bar of your Internet browser and that means your information can be safely transmitted – be sure you see the lock before you send personal information online.
Protect Your Passwords
- Before you protect your passwords, you need to be sure you are using them! Make sure all your data containing devices are password protected and be sure you are using strong, creative passwords.
Make Sure Facebook Is Really Your Friend
- Sharing too much information on social networking sites can leave you vulnerable to identity theft. The more someone knows about you, the easier it is to steal your identity. Never post personal information relating to your Social Security number, phone number, or account numbers on social media sites and be selective about who you share other personal information with.
It is wise to be protective of our own personal information; but it is even more important to be protective when you handle the personal information of others. Failing to properly secure personal information of employees, consumers, and customers can open your company up to liability that could lead to fines and lawsuits. With the proper plans in place, you could reduce that risk. Contact us to find out how.