Make Data Privacy a Priority • Check your privacy settings. • Share your data with care. • Question who has your data and how they handle it. • Tell companies your data privacy is important. What Is Personally Identifiable Information? Tax ID number Credit card number • Talk to your family about data privacy. • Protect sensitive data sent electronically with encryption and other tools. • Don’t share personal information over social media. Home address Name and date of birth Social Security number Data elements linked or linkable to a specific person Email address • Don’t connect to unknown wireless networks or devices. appears to belong to a company you do business with, contact it by phone or email to find out if it is having website issues. Protect Passwords Have a password strategy. Using “Password1234” is inviting hackers to tap into your accounts and steal data. Tracking passwords on paper might seem old school, but is still a good option, says De Boer, and one still used by many government agencies. Changing from a short password to a longer pass phrase of 15 characters or more with special characters and numbers is also a good idea. “There are also many password management programs that work very well,” De Boer says. Be sure to change any default passwords that come with devices and software. “Those default passwords are on the Internet and are known to everyone,” De Boer says. Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA), which is becoming much more common and is another way to make it harder for someone to hack into your accounts. It usually requires a two-step process to log into programs by requiring the user to enter a verification code provided through email or text message. MFA is usually an opt-in process. Be Suspicious Don’t click on suspicious links. On a computer, hover the mouse over a link and the web address will pop up; on a smartphone, hold on the link to see the address. If the address doesn't match the website the link indicates, it might be a fake link created by a data thief. Never enter your login credentials through a link in an email. Instead, go directly to the website through a known bookmark to verify the communication or notification is legitimate. If you get a suspicious email from someone you know, focus on sender details, context and content. Would this person normally send you a request for this type of information? If you’re not sure, call that person to make sure he or she is truly requesting the information. “That one simple action is an easy way to thwart bank or billing fraud,” De Boer says. While smartphones can fit in our pockets, they carry as much computing power and data as some laptop computers. With that much data on the move, data protection is critical. Educating yourself on the risks and taking a few simple steps will go far in protecting your valuable data. n Phishing A practice where scammers use deceptive emails to trick people into helping the scammer collect sensitive data, gain access to accounts or steal money. Spear phishing The practice of sending emails that appear to come from a known or trusted source with the intent to get people to reveal confidential information. Malware Software designed to disrupt, damage or gain unauthorized access to computer or mobile device systems. Ransomware Malware that holds data hostage by blocking access to a computer system until a sum of money is paid. Your CHS Connection 25