How to safeguard our personal and financial data

As Internet criminals grow smarter and sneakier, Internet is no longer a safe place. It is increasingly difficult to keep your financial and personal information safe because hackers have the ability to get that information. Have you done proper safeguards for data? If you don't take basic steps to protect your data, you may find yourself a victim of fraud or identity theft.

Here are a few tips on how to safeguard your personal information:

~ Password protection
While you choose passwords (you'll remember), please make sure that passwords is not be something that are easy for someone else to guess, such as the name of your child's name or your date of birth. A combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols will offer more security. Also, never write this information down and never carry it in your wallet .

~ Do not reveal any personal information or particularly passwords to anyone.
Don't give your personal and financial information to someone or organizations that you don't know or never dealt with before. Even though giving something, such as date of birth and mother's maiden name, can be used to steal personal identity. Therefore, it's important to know that personal information can be just as dangerous as financial information.

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~ Be careful of the merchants which you deal with
If you place orders or shop online, try to make sure it is a legitimate site. Transaction made only with good reputation organization, such as Amazon.com. If in the real world, you're shopping, you're more likely to trust an established store that you know and using normal payment means. Besides, it's essential that you use a password-protected and encrypted wallet, to safeguard your credit card information.

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~ Keep your eye out for scams
Many people have become familiar with common scams. Don’t hesitate, DELETE them. But now there are even more-convincing scam e-mails. You are probably confident you're not getting RM1million from anonymous sources, but if you get an e-mail, where the bank needs you to update your personal information for the security purpose, it looks realistic, Right? People will probably hand over their information and compromise all their financial accounts. If you receive an e-mail from any institution asking for your personal or financial information, even if it appears to come from a place you trust such as eBay, Paypal or Maybank, DO NOT respond. Instead, pick up the phone and call in order to verify. Nowadays, many fake e-mails have been circulating around us. Many people have been a victim of the fake e-mail. PLEASE be cautions! Don’t be one of them.

Sound terrible, right? You don't need to be scared, but you need to be cautious and aware that there are people on the Internet that will take advantage if you allow them. If something doesn't seem right, trust your gut and avoid it.

Related Links:

1. http://buckeyesecure.osu.edu/SafeComputing/Passwords
2. http://azlan.anilezfa.com/maybank-fake-email

Posted by Qiao Ling