Active Aging: Hackers are equal opportunity criminals. People of all ages should be cautious.

by Kenny Minger

It’s not news that hackers target businesses, any business they can, from hospitals to banks and small businesses, to mega-corporations like Amazon. The gold the hackers are searching for at these businesses and organizations is your information. To a hacker, personal information is priceless, and they can use it for several underhanded deeds, such as accessing bank accounts, opening credit cards, identity theft, blackmail, or even just selling the person’s information to companies to use for their own purposes.

So what should you do to avoid becoming a victim?

Protecting bank accounts and credit cards

When it comes to your bank account and credit cards, one of the best things you can do is keep records of what you purchased and occasionally compare those records to your monthly transactions. Sure, banks and credit card companies may notify you when unusual transactions and orders are placed on your account. But you can be proactive by watching for disparities yourself.

Whether you find the problem or your bank or credit card company contacts you about a problem, you can work with them to take further steps to recover the money that is lost. You may be advised to file a police report if you are a victim of bank fraud, and having that report may help you get your money back. At the very least, the report can help the government find ways to prevent future fraud cases that could affect you or others.

Another tip: Check with your bank about ways to view your credit score. Checking your credit score frequently can help you determine if another person is making purchases under your name.

Avoid being an online fraud victim

And then there’s online fraud. Log-in information you use on the internet is valuable to hackers, especially if you use the same password for many websites. It’s much wiser to have different passwords for different websites. When a website requires complicated conditions for setting up a password—like using a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters—the website is making sure your password is more secure. The more characters in your password the better.

A secure password ensures a hacker can’t “brute force” your password as quickly. So, for example, if you follow the standard requirements for making a password and create one that is, say, thirteen characters long, it might take two million years for someone to brute force your password.

Two more things to be concerned about: If you get a notification that your account was logged into and it wasn’t you that did it, or if you know your passwords were found online, you should change those passwords immediately.

Protect yourself from the dark web

You may have heard the term “dark web” before, but do you know what it means? The dark web represents a tiny fraction of the internet that can’t be accessed through normal means. Some people use it for uncensored speech in countries that may not have the free internet we do. Others use it for criminal activities, and as a result, innocent victims find their information, such as social security numbers or driver’s licenses, have been leaked on the dark web. While it can be scary to have this happen, you can take steps to get to the bottom of what happened. Most importantly, you should file a report with the Federal Trade Commission at www.identitytheft.gov. They’ll have you answer some questions to determine what steps you can take to recover your information. And just like bank accounts, it’s good practice to file a police report and a fraud report if you find you’ve been a victim.

To summarize, the best things you can do to safeguard your finances and identity are to use complex passwords, avoid using the same password for multiple sites and accounts, regularly check your credit score and bank accounts for unusual activity, and file police and fraud reports when something is out of the ordinary.

No matter how impossible it may seem, you can protect yourself and stay safe on the internet.

To a hacker, personal information is priceless, and they can use it for several underhanded deeds. Image credit: Towfiqu Barbhuiya on Unsplash.com

Kenny Minger is a supporter of the Stockbridge Area Senior Center (SASC)—a great place to spend time. Visit stockbridgeareaseniors.org or call 517-480-0353 for information.