Cooperative Living August 2019 - 24

SafetySense | by Allison Goldberg, Contributing Writer
Keep your information safe online
K
eeping your personal information secure online might seem like a difficult task, thanks in part to nearly constant news of
breaches, bugs and hacks. Luckily, there are steps you can take to increase your online security and decrease the likelihood
that a malicious hacker will steal your private data.
Be skeptical. Bring the same skepticism you'd bring in the
brick-and-mortar world to your experiences online.
* You wouldn't provide your credit card number, Social Security
number and mother's maiden name to a stranger on the
street. Don't do it online. Only provide it to trusted sources
on secure sites. Look for " https " or a padlock symbol in the
address bar.
* If you receive an email purporting to be from a known entity,
like your bank or credit card, asking you to click through to
log into your account, instead go directly to the site by typing
the URL into the address bar. You can also call the number
on your card or the official website to inquire about the email.
* Use a credit card with consumer protections to shop online
instead of your debit card, which would give a thief direct
access to your checking or savings account.
Don't overshare. Social media can be a fun way to share our
lives, yet some things people happily post publicly on social
media can compromise safety online and offline.
* Your birthdate is key information to accessing many accounts.
If you want to share your birthday online, consider not
sharing the year.
* Your mother's maiden name, your favorite pet, the street on
which you grew up and even your favorite sports teams can
be used to answer challenge questions to access various
22 | Cooperative Living | August 2019
accounts. Keep this information shared with friends only, if
possible, or pick non-factual responses to use consistently
in response to security challenge questions. " Favorite pet?
Abraham Lincoln. "
* Consider not using your full legal name on public social
media accounts.
Arm yourself. It will be more difficult to keep your information
secure online if your computer, tablet, smartphone, browser and
home network are vulnerable.
* Secure your wireless network and all your devices with strong
passcodes that use a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters,
numbers and symbols. Change your passwords once every
six months.
* Only use public wireless networks that are secure.
* Make sure your operating system and browsers run with the
latest updates and security patches.
* Use security software on your computers and run regular scans.
* To keep digital documents safe, you can encrypt your
computer, your tablet and even your phone or store them
on an external hard drive that isn't connected to the internet.
Reduce, reuse, recycle and redact! Before donating your old
electronics to charity or taking them to your local e-recycler, delete
all data. Instructions and apps exist to walk you through wiping
your electronics clean of all traces of you. 
co-opliving.com

http://www.co-opliving.com

Cooperative Living August 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Cooperative Living August 2019