Top Ten (10) ways to protect your online identity from theft
We are all increasingly putting ourselves online. Our personal and professional information is stored in various clouds and could be used against us.
Online identity theft can result in negative effects ranging from nuisance (like "humorous" posts from your account) through to extortion, credit card fraud and even complete financial ruin.
I've just spent this morning changing the passwords I use to protect my online identity. I had realised, just in time, that I was about to become the victim of aphishing scam.
I felt pretty foolish. How could I almost fall victim? Surely I'm tech savvy enough to keep myself safe?
Phishing: a scam by which an e-mail user is duped into revealing personal or confidential information by directing the user to a replica of commercial Web site
What the Phishing hook looked like (not the actual person)
I was sent a LinkedIn connection request from an existing connection. This is usually suspicious enough that I would immediately delete the email, but this one almost slipped through because;- My contact can be a bit emotionally volatile. It's very conceivable that they could get angry with me and disconnect - then regret and reconnect later.
- I have a new smartphone, so I've become de-sensitised to re-entering my account details. Also I think in general, I've been less vigilant on my phone.
- It was first thing in the morning, I hadn't gotten out of bed yet and clearly my brain wasn't fully engaged.
Luckily, I stopped myself before tapping on the link. Instead I deleted the email, opened the LinkedIn app and saw that there were no connection requests pending.
But as I remembered how bad identify theft can be, I decided it's time to beef-up my personal security.
10 ways to protect your online identity
There are plenty of other things you can do to protect your online identity. Most of these I was already doing, but some I hadn't bothered with for convenience reasons. Not anymore.
- Use strong passwords that can't be guessed or easily brute forced. Use a combination of upper & lower case letters, numbers and special characters. Don't use words or phrases people could guess about you like pet's names.
- Use unique passwords for every site. A Password Manager can make that easy - but if you're not ready for that, try incorporating the site name (or part of it) in your standard password.
- Use weird challenge questions - that are not strictly factual or easy to discover. Your "mothers maiden name" can be easily found online. The name of "that kid who ate marshmellows every lunchtime" (probably) can't.
- Protect your core email address - the one that you can use to reset forgotten passwords. If a hacker can get access to your core email address, they can get access to everything. Make this a very strong and unique password.
- Turn on Login Approvals - Facebook can send a code to your phone that has to be entered with every login on a new browser - which is a great security measure. Unfortunately LinkedIn and Twitter can only do this with every login, which is a bit too annoying in my opinion.
- Turn on Login Alerts - both LinkedIn and Facebook can notify you if someone logs in using a new browser. This is a great way to know if you have been compromised.
- Review your privacy settings - and be careful what you "like" as that can give additional access to your profile. You will receive more phishing scams and they will appear more tailored if hackers can find out more about you online. You could also become the person they use to attack others.
- Be wary of WiFi - free WiFi that is not encrypted are often used by hackers to track your online activity and steal passwords. Don't join unencrypted WiFi networks without SSL (https://) or VPN software.
- Protect your devices with up to date anti-virus software that can detect phishing and other attacks. Also make sure the devices requires a password or fingerprint to open them.
- Always log out of shared computers - and be careful about who could be watching you on them. Don't allow browsers to save your password unless you have exclusive use of that device - even if it's yours.
Time to batten down the hatches
Sometimes as a business user, you can get complacent. I wouldn't have even received this phishing scam on my Spark Digital email address. The security settings on our work laptops and network would also have kept me safe.
But we're all consumers too - and those consumer technologies can put ourselves and our businesses at risk. This was a timely reminder for me - hopefully it is for you, also.
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