Staying Safe Against Data Breaches
Data breaches have become far too common, and it’s really unfortunate. It’s almost like everyone is living through a data breach epidemic because they happen so often and affect so many businesses and individuals.
Put simply, a data breach happens when cybercriminals are able to hack into a system to gain personal information about others. They can use that information to commit various acts of fraud, such as using a credit card number to make purchases or stealing someone’s identity. And hackers can even sell personal information about people to other criminals in order to make a profit. It’s definitely scary!
Although data breaches are common, there are steps you can take to protect yourself as much as possible. Continue reading to learn about a few ways that you can go about doing so.
Freeze Your Credit
Freezing your credit can help give you some peace of mind, especially if a business you have purchased from or worked with in some way has been breached and your information might be at risk.
Basically, by freezing your credit, no one will be able to open a credit account, such as a credit card or loan. Even if you want to apply for a new credit card, you will need to temporarily lift the freeze so your credit report will be accessible.
Keep Your Personal Information to Yourself
Avoiding oversharing personal information is another key step in keeping yourself safe from hackers and cybercriminals. The harder it is for someone to find out details about you, the more secure you may be. So, take a look at your social media accounts and any other websites and blogs you run, and remove information that can point people to you easily.
Also, check out people search sites that might be displaying your personal contact details and that might be offering background checks on you. Opt-out of these websites to have your listings taken down. You can start at Nuwber and then move on to other websites that are similar.
Use Strong Passwords and Keep Your Computer Secure
You can protect yourself from data breaches by using strong passwords that are hard to guess. Longer passwords are recommended, as are those that have a combination of uppercase letters, lowercase letters, symbols, and numbers. Also, regularly changing your passwords, and using a different password for each account you own, are other smart steps you can take to make it harder for hackers to make their way into your accounts.
In addition to strong passwords, turning on 2-factor authentication whenever it is an option can also help provide an additional level of protection against hackers. So that even in the event when someone figures out your passcode, they wouldn’t be able to access your account unless they were also able to get a code that is sent to your mobile phone or your email address. Finally, it is worth looking into the various security software programs that are available these days for both PC and Mac systems.
These programs could help protect you against hackers, they could scan for viruses and other threats that need to be removed, and they could even alert you if you are about to enter a website that is not considered safe. Just keep in mind that different software programs will have different features, so see which one would work best for you and go from there.
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