Believe it or not their is a group of individuals out there that are maliciously looking to steal your identity, steal your passwords and even steal your money ~ and we as a society make it easy for them to accomplish. How can we minimize our personal risk? Well, we are glad you asked. Here are our TOP 5 Things you should NEVER do!
Don’t click the link! Phishing is one of the simplest ways for a hacker to gain access to your information. They use clever looking e-mails and very personal sounding language to misrepresent an agency of importance, like the IRS or your Bank, all in the hopes you will take the bait.
- Check the E-mail Address – it is likely from a personal account like .gmail or similar
- Call the Company – if they sent it, they will help you over the phone (psssst… they didn’t send it!)
Never trust an unsolicited phone call – No different than clicking the link, many people still find themselves in compromising situations because they still allow themselves to be hustled via the phone.
- The IRS doesn’t send e-mails or make phone calls – they send Mail
- If you don’t recognize the number, let it go to voice mail. If it is truly important, they WILL leave a voicemail for you.
Never give out personal information without vetting the source – We hope this speaks for itself.
Never leave your devices unattended – It only takes 30 seconds for your devices to be compromised.
- If you are going to leave them unattended, make sure you use a screenlock with password protection
Never run a machine with out Anti-virus protection – Although not a flawless solution, it is still one of the best ways to protect your home and work computers. There are some free down-loadable tools if you are on a budget, but strongly encourage you to spend the $60 a year for Norton or McAfee.