With the convenience that technology provides for things like online banking, shopping, and bill paying—there comes another side we all have to keep in mind: security.
There are countless things to consider when it comes to protecting your information. Fortunately, we’ve compiled a list of some of the big ones to at least get you started.
- Don’t bank in public
When you’re out in public, resist the urge to login to your online banking apps, especially if you are connected to Wi-Fi. These are not secure platforms, which would make it easier for a hacker to intercept your banking info. Make sure you save these things for a secure and trusted network.
The same would be true for any bill-paying or shopping that requires you to enter your personal financial information. Make sure you do this from home or somewhere that can be trusted.
- Create strong passwords
Just about everything we do online requires a password, and while it’s tempting to make them short and easy to remember, that is not the most secure. As a general rule of thumb, passwords should be long, strong, and difficult to guess.
This means, don’t use personal information like your name, birthday, or email address. The safest thing to do is use a password generator, but you can also make secure ones yourself keeping them long, using a combination of letters and characters, and capital and lowercase letters.
It’s also best to not use the same password for every site, as tempting as that may be. To store your many different passwords, you can use a password manager.
- Multi-factor authentication
Many websites require multi-factor authentication. This is basically just using another method to verify you are who you are. While it can be frustrating if you’re in a hurry to enter a security code or click on the number of “traffic lights” in a picture series, this is ultimately a small price to pay for a secure Web experience. When prompted to set up, we recommend you do it.
- Don’t click on links you can’t verify
Many of us are bombarded with texts and emails asking us to click a link. Some of it is stuff we signed up for through a business, but other things are from scammers. You should never click on a link that isn’t from a trusted person or company and that you don’t know exactly where it will go.
Beware especially with email as scammers will often pose as someone you know, using another name. You can always verify this by looking at the email address of the sender.
- Login to your accounts regularly
Make sure to login to your online banking and/or credit card apps on a regular basis. Try to do this everyday if possible. That way you will quickly notice if someone made a purchase using your cards, and you can call your bank or credit card company right away.
