Most people freely hand their private information over to hackers.
The best way to never get hacked is to never give out private information. Make it
a policy to simply say, “NO.” It’s very hard to guard your information when you are being pressured by someone who seems legit. A great way to handle this is to say, ” I was hacked in the big Target breach and I am under strict orders not to give out personal information.” Suddenly you are off the hook and free to call them back later
when you are sure they are the real deal. With a name , date of birth and social security number hackers can go crazy.
Other Ways To Prevent Identity Theft
1 Use nicknames or fake names on Social Media.
2. Never use real birth date for Social Media . Have a date you use that’s close.
3. Never give out Social Security Number. When someone seems to really need it tell
them you forgot it and will get back to them. Make sure you initiate the call or web search and you are talking to the real people. If they are legit, you will not hurt
their feelings by being cautious.
4. Use a complicated password. The Democrats got hacked by using the word ‘Password’
as their password. Mix it up a bit. Perhaps the first letters of a favorite phrase or
something.
5. Never click on spam emails. It’s a good idea to look at whatever you want to click on and then do a search for it yourself. Always hover your mouse pointer over the sender’s name. This will reveal the real address that sent the email. If anything looks fishy AVOID IT !!!
6. You bank and most other established institutions will not send emails asking you
to verify information. These may have official logo’s and compelling text but you should always call the people in question. This is called Phishing and millions of
innocent victims hand over all their personal information to these schemes every
day.
The moral of this story is that cyber criminals are getting really good, but usually
the weakest link in your security is you. It is much more common for a person to hand
over their password or Social Security number to a hacker than it is for them to
infect your computer and actually steal the data.