Exposure in the Palm of your Hand
Today’s marketplace boasts a plethora of technical gadgets. There are palm-size phones, TVs, stereos, computers, medical monitors, etc. You can literally be “in touch” with just about any aspect of your life by a gadget that fits in the palm of your hand.
Convenience, portability, accessibility—-it’s in demand! Sometimes, however, you should be careful of what you wish for. With all this accessibility and portability comes vulnerability! The device that can give you stock quotes instantly and allow you to respond to email anywhere, can also give your personal data to any thief with a little know-how!
A business associate was surprised last week when I pointed out that his new handheld, which is a phone, computer, internet link, camera, digital recorder, address book and calendar, could be accessed by a thief just as easily as he accesses it from his belt-holder. His response was similar to those I get most often in the same situation, “Oh, nobody would want to get access to this stuff.” Want to bet?
Just because most of what we do, say or enter into our little devices is mundane to us, doesn’t mean it isn’t valuable to a thief that knows how to make use of it. For computer/device hackers, those that don’t think they’re “special or important” enough to warrant monitoring by thieves are the ones most likely to be targeted.
If you bank online, pay bills online, have your paycheck direct deposited and utilize your credit/debit cards for daily purchases, you are the best target for a cyber thief. Most people who get their finances so automated that they don’t have to take time to review their monthly bills because they are paid by automatic draft are often lulled into a failure to regularly review their accounts or even balance their checkbooks.
What should you do?
Despite hectic schedules and multiple demands on your time, 1) review your online accounts regularly, at minimum, once a week. 2) Don’t keep passwords, accounts numbers, etc. stored in easily accessed computer files. When creating passwords, use upper and lower case letters in combination with numbers and symbols for greater security. 3) Change passwords/codes regularly such as every few weeks. 4) Be aware! Any area that offers free internet connection is an area that can allow a hacker to break into your device. 5) Turn wireless connection settings off when in these areas. 6) Don’t use birthdays, children’s names, social secuity numbers, etc. as passwords. 7) Keep paper records of tranactions and activity on accounts even if they’re completed online.