It’s more common than ever before for important financial and other personal information to be stolen by hackers. In 2013, Yahoo’s email hack compromised 3 Billion accounts. More recently, it was WannaCry and then the Equifax Breach in September exposing more personal information. Last week, it was reported that an email scam targeting Netflix’s 110 million subscribers went out requesting personal information. The suspicious emails were telling Netflix subscribers that their billing information was unable to be validated for the next billing cycle of their subscription. As a result, they were informing subscribers that their membership will be suspended if they do not receive a response within 48-hours. So, here are three strategies you can employ if you’re concerned that your financial information might be compromised.
First, get regular credit reports. One of the biggest ironies of the Equifax breach is that Equifax is a credit monitoring company, meaning that it’s their job to tell lenders whether a potential client is trustworthy. They are one of three major credit reporting companies, along with TransUnion and Experian. All three probably have important information about you, so it’s a good idea to set up regular credit reports from all of them to see if there’s any unusual activity on your accounts. You can apply for a free credit report once per year on the “Annual Credit Report” website.
Second, freeze your credit if you need to. If you have any reason to think that there has been a phony transaction on your accounts recently, it’s usually worth it to pay the small fee and freeze your credit accounts. Once you have frozen your accounts, take the time to look through your recent transactions in detail. If anything jumps out to you or doesn’t look like something you actually bought, contact your bank and your credit card company right away.
Third, monitor your money and credit statements. In the end, there’s no substitute for just taking the time to go through your bank and credit card statements in order to check for any weird transactions. As slow and boring of a process as it is, the most important thing in an identity theft situation is to discover the problem as early as possible. You can also look into using companies like LifeLock to help monitor your credit for you.
Ultimately, strong Cybersecurity can have a positive impact on your financial security. Remaining alert and being proactive about threats can help you minimize your risk. And, the same can be said with financial security planning. Click HERE to request your complimentary, no obligation review where we’ll help you assess your risks and create a customized plan for retirement with the foresight to get you to where you’d like to be. In today’s Cyberworld, it can be hard to know who to trust and how to look out for things you should avoid.
