Five Safety Tips for a Secure Holiday Season Online!
In today’s digital world, staying safe online is more important than ever. With hackers and scammers constantly looking for ways to steal your personal information, it’s essential to protect yourself and your accounts.
Here are some practical tips to keep you secure online:
1. Avoid Using Public Wi-Fi
Public Wi-Fi networks are convenient but come with significant security risks. Hackers can easily intercept your data, leaving you vulnerable to identity theft and other cybercrimes. Whenever possible, use a secure, private connection, especially when accessing sensitive information like banking or personal accounts.
2. Use Unique Passwords for Everything
Ensure that each of your accounts has a unique password. This can feel overwhelming at first, but a password manager can help you keep track of everything.
- Password Managers: A password manager is a program that allows users to store and manage their passwords for local applications or online services such as web applications, online shops or social media.
- Some examples: Apple and Google have built in password managers you can use for free. 1Password, LastPass, or Bitwarden are examples of subscription based password managers. Feel free to reach out if you need help deciding which is the best option for you.
- Update Your Current Passwords: Go through your existing passwords and update them to strong, unique ones.
- If you have many accounts, make a list of all of them and start by updating five passwords a week, focusing first on the most important accounts like banking, social media, and any platforms where your credit card details are stored.
3. Manage Password Sharing
If you’ve shared your account details with anyone—whether an assistant, family member, or friend—make sure to remove access for anyone who no longer needs it. Regularly audit who has access to your accounts and change your passwords after shared access has been revoked.
4. Be Wary of Suspicious Emails
Phishing scams are becoming more sophisticated, making it harder to differentiate between legitimate and fake emails. Watch out for red flags like:
- Misspelled words, poor grammar, or emails that create a sense of urgency.
- Common phishing tactics include notifications claiming there’s a problem with your account, billing issues, or threats that your account is about to be shut down.
- For example, you might receive an email pretending to be from Amazon, prompting you to click a link. The link directs you to a fake website, which happens to look exactly like the real Amazon site, where hackers steal your login information once you enter it.
Always double-check the sender email address before clicking on links in emails. In fact, it is almost always better to leave the email and go into a webpage and type the company’s offical website in to access your account. If something is actually wrong with your order or account, it should show when you log in. If in doubt, consider contacting the company directly through the contact details on their official website.
5. Enable Two-Factor Authentication
Two-factor authentication (2FA) adds an extra layer of security by requiring a second form of verification in addition to your password. Even if someone gets hold of your password, they’ll still need access to a secondary device or account to gain full access. Whenever it’s available, be sure to enable 2FA.
*** Bonus: A Few Social Media Safety Tips
- Don’t Fall for Hoaxes: With all the buzz about Meta AI and privacy concerns, it’s important to stay informed about how your content is being used. A rumor currently going around that posting a paragraph on Facebook will stop the platform from using your content. This is FALSE. If you’re concerned about privacy, always read the platform’s terms and conditions.
- Check Before You Share: If you’re reposting missing persons alerts or similar content, check the original post source. Look at the poster’s profile to verify if it’s a real account or spam. If the profile is new or hasn’t posted anything else, it’s likely not legitimate. Also, missing persons should always have a case number from the police.
Stay safe and protect your online presence! For more tips or help with your online security, feel free to reach out to us at HAS Solutions.
