More and more people are recognizing that staying secure is
important while they are online. However, according to the National
Cybersecurity Association there are people who feel that it doesn’t matter if
their device or account gets hacked. They may think that their information is
not important or that their online data is not critical. However, scammers and
cybercriminals can use the most innocent of information to steal from you or
others.
Your Facebook account might appear to be innocent, but it can be
used against you. While you might only keep up with your family and friends on
Facebook, if you overshare the details of your life (such as mentioning when
you are taking vacation) someone lurking in the background can use that
information to break into your home while you are gone. Your social media passwords
are very important because if someone gains access to your account through your
password, they can impersonate you a try to scam your friends. Scammers have
also been known to take over social media accounts, changing the passwords so
that the owners no longer have control of the accounts, using them for their
scams or other criminal purposes. So, long secure passwords, 16 or more
characters, using a mix of upper- and lower-case letters, numbers and special
characters, secured in a password manager is an important step to take.
Other online accounts that are important to protect include
financial accounts such as your bank accounts, your credit card accounts, and
retirement accounts. Protecting your account credentials such as your password
and account numbers can save you a ton of grief. If a scammer only has your
account number they can use it on applications, forms, and fake documents to make
a fraudulent claim look more legitimate. But if the scammer has your account
number and the routing number (found on checks issued by the bank) or the name
of the bank or
online password they can
do much more,
·
Set up payments for goods or services appearing to come from your
account.
·
Attempt transfers out of your account through ACH debits or other
bank transfer methods.
·
Create counterfeit checks that appear to draw from your account.
·
Use the account for laundering activity, depositing funds and
moving them out again to obscure the trail.
·
Make online purchases where limited verification is required.
·
Apply for additional accounts or services using your account as
proof of legitimacy, for example, opening a secondary account to stash stolen
funds before moving them into cryptocurrency or offshore.
·
Pretend to be from your bank and contact you to collect more
personal information. That follow-up scam can be used to harvest even more
personally identifiable information (PII) or access details for other bank
accounts.
Protecting the usernames, passwords, and account numbers of all of
your online accounts is important to protecting your security and privacy no
matter how trivial the account may seem. Also, protect any documents that have
bank account, credit card account numbers or numbers such as your Social Security
number, Medicare number by keeping them in a secure location and destroying bank/credit
card statements, or other documents with those account numbers when you are
finished with them.
Remember,
·
Use long, complex passwords stored in a secure password manager.
·
Use unique passwords for each of your accounts. DO NOT use the same
password for multiple accounts!
·
Use multifactor authentication (MFA) for all of your online
accounts.
National Cybercrime Alliance:
https://www.staysafeonline.org/articles/6-cybersecurity-myths-debunked
Identity Theft Resource Center:
https://www.idtheftcenter.org/post/what-can-a-scammer-do-with-your-banking-information/
Social Security Administration:
https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10064.pdf
