Cyber criminals are working 24/7/365 to gain access to your personal and sensitive information to exploit it for financial gain, at your peril.  You MUST be vigilant, after all, they only have to be right once, whereas your defenses have to win 100% of the time.

Having a defensive team on the field, a.k.a a personal Financial Advisor, creates an additional layer between the bad guys and your life savings. While at times, having to speak with someone who knows you personally vs sending an email when requesting funds or receiving encrypted emails with sensitive information may seem like an extra step, it’s our process of keeping our clients money protected in a dangerous cyber world.  A big thanks to our friend and former FBI agent, Jeff Lanza, for sharing preventative steps you can implement to secure your sensitive information.

1. Steps to prevent identity theft-

a) SSA.Gov: Create your online account to prevent social security benefit theft.

b) Credit Freeze: Visit each major credit reporting agency's website (Experian, Equifax, Trans Union, Innovis) and shut down your credit. This will prevent access to new credit without your permission. Turning your credit back on is as simple as calling the agency being used by the vendor requesting your details.

c) Don't Forget the Paper: Remembering to shred documents, not leaving outgoing mail with personal information, especially overnight, using e-delivery are all ways to protect correspondence.

d.) It’s Tax Time!: Visit IRS.Gov and create a PIN to ensure your tax returns and refunds can be claimed by cyber criminals.

2. The Crooks are Clever-

a) Scammers evolve with the times: Crises come and go, whether it’s Covid, Wars, or Inflation, criminals will use phone calls, text messages, and emails to take advantage of unsuspecting victims. NEVER provide your sensitive information from unsolicited contacts, no matter how official it may seem. The IRS, Social Security Admin, Amazon, Microsoft, or other official organizations DO NOT reach out requesting your information.

b) Avoid the Email Click: Emails containing unusual or confusing links or attachments are indications of potential attempts for account takeovers.  This is where a criminal is attempting to gain your information in order to gain access to your financial accounts.

c) Watch that Wire: Fraud when it comes to wiring funds, especially in today’s hot real estate market, is increasing dramatically.  Anytime you are wiring funds, be sure to speak directly with those involved on both ends.  DO NOT use emails to transact wiring of funds.  Also, be sure to encrypt emails if sending details prior to the actual wiring.

3. Your PC Connects You to the Bad Guys-

a) Shut Down the “Pop-Up”: We’ve all seen pop up ads on our screens at one time or another.  This could be more than a simple ad from a website you visited, it could be an attempt to access your data.  It’s best to use ALT+CRTL+DEL and close down the pop up in lieu of clicking anywhere inside ad, including the close out X.

b) Back it Up!: Using both physical devices and cloud services to regularly back up your devices is critical to protect your sensitive and sentimental files in the event of ransomware or malware penetration.

c) One for All and All for One: Using the same password for multiple sites, while easy for you to remember, makes it easy for the criminals as well.  If they crack it, they now have access to all your accounts.  Be sure to change it up and use passphrases instead of words. An example: Say your daughter, Ann, is a phenomenal swimmer.  A passphrase could be Annloves2swim4RVA! The length makes it more difficult for hackers to crack and it’s a phrase that is familiar to you.  Using a PW manager can help to remember multiple and complex passwords.

Quick hits:

Hover to Discover- Email addresses can appear legitimate, but simply hovering over them with your mouse or pressing and holding the link on a smartphone will reveal the true sender’s identity, allowing you determine the legitimacy of the email.

Multi Factor Authentication: The combination of a password and PIN, typically received via your phone, creates an additional layer.  Yes, this also creates an additional step, but it’s certainly easier than fixing identity theft.

Gas Stations- Never use a debit card.  Thieves are clever, at times, and have been known to insert devices within pumps to steal your card’s information.  Granting access to your checking account through a debit card is dangerous.  Disputing charges on a credit card vs recovering your stolen checking account funds are night and day.

Update, Update, Update- Your phone and other electronic software requires updates for good reason.  Aside from new features, critical software patches to protect you against known vulnerabilities are critical.  Do not put this off when available.

Avoid Public WiFi- It’s tempting to hop on the quick and easy WiFi at the coffee shop.  Cyber criminals know this as well.  Public WiFi could expose your sensitive information, so if you require the access, be sure to use a Virtual Private Network (or VPN) to gain access.

Clean up Old Apps- Occasionally, go through your downloaded apps and remove those no longer needed.  You may have granted access to your information when you first downloaded the app and this is simply one more gateway for the bad guys to access.

 

 

 

The foregoing information has been obtained from sources considered to be reliable, but we do not guarantee that it is accurate or complete, it is not a statement of all available data necessary for making an investment decision, and it does not constitute a recommendation. Any opinions are those of Matthew Spradlin and not necessarily those of Raymond James.