This week’s theme on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: How To Protect Yourself From Cyber Theft

Yesterday I talked about some of the top 3 ways to protect yourself from online hackers and cyber theft: checking your credit reports often and protecting your passwords and online logins with a password manager and 2 factor authentication. 

Today, I’m talking about a few more ways to protect yourself from cyber theft: 

• Freeze your credit reports. Freezing your credit reports makes it impossible for new accounts to be opened in your name unless you remove the freeze.

• Avoid using public WiFi. Or if you do, always use a VPN when you’re not at home or at work. 

• Shred your documents. The OG way to keep your identity safe is still relevant today. 

• Invest in security software. Antivirus and malware software can help you detect attempts to access your personal information by resourceful online scammers and many times, neutralize those threats. Annual fees can range from $35-$100.

• Be a bit less social. If you’re on social media, enable the strongest security measures available on your accounts to protect your account. Keep your friends list to people you only actually know in real life, and if you’re going to post, make sure only your friends and not the whole world can see what you’re up to. Using caution about posts about your dog Rocky, who also happens to be the base for all of your passwords - the thieves know this by the way - we’re not that clever. It’s a lot of kids and pet names and birthdate based passwords, so keep that in mind if that’s you. But other details too like your city of residence, employer and your own birth date can be great sources of information for thieves. 

• Sign up for free credit monitoring. Companies like Capital One and Discover offer free credit monitoring to their cardholders. You can also use free monitoring tools available from many of the credit bureaus or Credit Karma, which provides free credit monitoring of your Equifax and TransUnion credit reports.

That’s it for today. Thanks for listening! My name is Ashley Micciche and this is the Retirement Quick Tips podcast.   

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Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance