{"id":152,"date":"2014-01-16T17:17:44","date_gmt":"2014-01-16T23:17:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cybersecurity.bellevue.edu\/?p=152"},"modified":"2021-08-30T13:10:35","modified_gmt":"2021-08-30T19:10:35","slug":"protecting-yourself-in-an-insecure-cyberworld","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cybersecurity.bellevue.edu\/index.php\/2014\/01\/16\/protecting-yourself-in-an-insecure-cyberworld\/","title":{"rendered":"Protecting Yourself in an Insecure Cyberworld"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A friend of mine recently asked for 5 quick tips for people to protect themselves from cyberfraud and identity theft.\u00a0 While there are many great ideas out there on the sites listed below, here are the five I promote:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><i>Watch your credit card.<\/i> When paying with a credit or debit card, pay attention to who has it and where it\u2019s going.\u00a0 It\u2019s easy for the waiter\/waitress or cashier to steal the information when they take it out of your sight.\u00a0 Most identity theft occurs with the physical card and not online.<\/li>\n<li><i>Keep track of your charges.<\/i>\u00a0 Know each time you spend money especially with credit and debit cards.\u00a0 This will make the next steps easier when you check your statements. You won\u2019t need to rely on your memory as much (\u201cWhat\u2019s this charge?\u201d and \u201cDid I make it?\u201d). While this is mostly important for payments made by credit or debit card, it also applies to cash.<\/li>\n<li><i>Pay attention to your statements.<\/i>\u00a0 At least once a month, go through all of your bank and credit card statements to ensure all transactions are credible. \u00a0It\u2019s so easy to get lazy and neglect reviewing what\u2019s being charged in your name.\u00a0 With electronic statements, you can do this multiple times a month.\u00a0 This allows you to catch potential problems earlier.<\/li>\n<li><i>Be careful when using public wi-fi<\/i>.\u00a0 It\u2019s a great convenience that so many places allow us to connect to the Internet using their free wi-fi.\u00a0 Keep in mind though that it\u2019s like yelling in public; it\u2019s not secret.\u00a0 Malicious hackers can \u201csniff\u201d the airwaves and steal your information.\u00a0 I don\u2019t recommend using public wi-fi for anything sensitive.<\/li>\n<li><i>Use strong passwords and keep them safe<\/i>.\u00a0 Passwords are our keys to our identity and personal data.\u00a0 Choose and use the wisely.\u00a0 Don\u2019t use the same password for all websites. That\u2019s the same as having the same key for your house, car, office, safe, etc.\u00a0 Use different passwords especially for sensitive areas like your financial institutions.\u00a0 Microsoft has a good, online password checker to help you select strong passwords.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Below are some of the websites* and resources you can use to learn more about keeping yourself and your family safe online:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>FTC &#8211; Consumer site: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/security\/default.aspx\">http:\/\/www.consumer.ftc.gov\/topics\/protecting-your-identity<\/a><\/li>\n<li>IRS: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.irs.gov\/uac\/Identity-Protection-Tips\">http:\/\/www.irs.gov\/uac\/Identity-Protection-Tips<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Microsoft &#8211; Safety &amp; Security Center: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/security\/default.aspx\">http:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/security\/default.aspx<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>What tips or sites do you have?\u00a0 Please share using\u00a0 the comments.<\/p>\n<p>* These sites are not associated with Bellevue University. They are provided for your reference. Use at your own risk.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A friend of mine recently asked for 5 quick tips for people to protect themselves from cyberfraud and identity theft.\u00a0 While there are many great ideas out there on the sites listed below, here are the five I promote: Watch your credit card. When paying with a credit or debit card, pay attention to who [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-online-safety-tips"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cybersecurity.bellevue.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cybersecurity.bellevue.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cybersecurity.bellevue.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cybersecurity.bellevue.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cybersecurity.bellevue.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cybersecurity.bellevue.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":154,"href":"https:\/\/cybersecurity.bellevue.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152\/revisions\/154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cybersecurity.bellevue.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cybersecurity.bellevue.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cybersecurity.bellevue.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}