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Whether it tags along via a smartphone, laptop, tablet, or wearable, it seems like the internet follows us wherever we go nowadays. Yet there’s something else that follows us around as well — a growing body of personal info that we create while banking, shopping, and simply browsing the internet. And no doubt about it, our info is terrifically valuable.
What makes it so valuable? It’s no exaggeration to say that your personal info is the key to your digital life, along with your financial and civic life as well. Aside from using it to create accounts and logins, it’s further tied to everything from your bank accounts and credit cards to your driver’s license and your tax refund.
Needless to say, your personal info is something that needs protecting, so let’s check out several ways you can do just that.
What is personal info? It’s info about you that others can use to identify you either directly or indirectly. Thus, that info could identify you on its own. Or it could identify you when it’s linked to other identifiers, like the ones linked with the devices, apps, tools, and protocols you use.
A prime example of direct personal info is your tax ID number because it’s unique and directly tied to your name. Further instances include your facial image to unlock your smartphone, your medical records, your finances, and your phone number because each of these can be easily linked back to you.
Then there are those indirect pieces of personal info that act as helpers. While they might not identify you on their own, a few of them can when they’re added together. These helpers include things like internet protocol addresses, the unique device ID of your smartphone, or other identifiers such as radio frequency identification tags.
You can also find pieces of your personal info in the accounts you use, like your Google to Apple IDs, which can be linked to your name, your email address, and the apps you have. You’ll also find it in the apps you use. For example, there’s personal info in the app you use to map your walks and runs, because the combination of your smartphone’s unique device ID and GPS tracking can be used in conjunction with other info to identify who you are. Not to mention where you typically like to do your 5k hill days. The same goes for messenger apps, which can collect how you interact with others, how often you use the app, and your location info based on your IP address, GPS info, or both.
In all, there’s a cloud of personal info that follows us around as we go about our day online. Some wisps of that cloud are more personally identifying than others. Yet gather enough of it, and your personal info can create a high-resolution snapshot of you — who you are, what you’re doing, when you’re doing it, and even where you’re doing it, too — particularly if it gets into the wrong hands.
Remember Pig-Pen, the character straight from the old funny pages of Charles Schultz’s Charlie Brown? He’s hard to forget with that ever-present cloud of dust following him around. Charlie Brown once said, “He may be carrying the soil that trod upon by Solomon or Nebuchadnezzar or Genghis Khan!” It’s the same with us and our personal info, except the cloud surrounding us, isn’t the dust of kings and conquerors. They’re motes of info that are of tremendously high value to crooks and bad actors — whether for purposes of identity theft or invasion of privacy.
With all the personal info we create and share on the internet, that calls for protecting it. Otherwise, our personal info could fall into the hands of a hacker or identity thief and end up getting abused, in potentially painful and costly ways.
Here are several things you can do to help ensure that what’s private stays that way:
Square One is to protect your devices with comprehensive online protection software. This defends you against the latest virus, malware, spyware, and ransomware attacks plus further protects your privacy and identity. Also, it can provide strong password protection by generating and automatically storing complex passwords to keep your credentials safer from hackers and crooks who might try to force their way into your accounts.
Further, security software can also include a firewall that blocks unwanted traffic from entering your home network, such as an attacker poking around for network vulnerabilities so that they can “break in” to your computer and steal info.
Also known as a virtual private network, a VPN helps protect your vital personal info and other data with bank-grade encryption. The VPN encrypts your internet connection to keep your online activity private on any network, even public networks. Using a public network without a VPN can increase your risk because others on the network can potentially spy on your browsing and activity.
If you’re new to the notion of using a VPN, check out this article on VPNs and how to choose one so that you can get the best protection and privacy possible. (Our McAfee+ plans offer a VPN as part of your subscription.)
In the U.S., the Social Security Number (SSN) is one of the most prized pieces of personal info as it unlocks the door to employment, finances, and much more. First up, keep a close grip on it. Literally. Store your card in a secure location. Not your purse or wallet.
Certain businesses and medical practices might ask you for your SSN for billing purposes and the like. You don’t have to provide it (although some businesses could refuse service if you don’t), and you can always ask if they will accept some alternative form of info. However, there are a handful of instances where an SSN is a requirement. These include:
Be aware that hackers often get a hold of SSNs because the organization holding that info gets hacked or compromised itself. Minimizing how often you provide your SSN can offer an extra degree of protection.
Protecting your files with encryption is a core concept in data and info security, and thus it’s a powerful way to protect your personal info. It involves transforming data or info into code that requires a digital key to access it in its original, unencrypted format. For example, McAfee+ includes File Lock, which is our file encryption feature that lets you lock important files in secure digital vaults on your device.
Additionally, you can also delete sensitive files with an application such as McAfee Shredder, which securely deletes files so that thieves can’t access them. (Quick fact: deleting files in your trash doesn’t delete them in the truest sense. They’re still there until they’re “shredded” or otherwise overwritten such that they can’t be restored.)
Which Marvel Universe superhero are you? Does it really matter? After all, such quizzes and social media posts are often grifting pieces of your personal info in a seemingly playful way. While you’re not giving up your SSN, you might be giving up things like your birthday, your pet’s name, your first car…things that people often use to compose their passwords or use as answers to common security questions on banking and financial sites. The one way to pass this kind of quiz is not to take it!
A far more direct form of separating you from your personal info is phishing attacks. Posing as emails from known or trusted brands, financial institutions, or even a friend or family member, a scammer’s attack will try to trick you into sharing important info like your logins, account numbers, credit card numbers, and so on under the guise of providing customer service.
How do you spot such emails? Well, it’s getting a little tougher nowadays because scammers are getting more sophisticated and can make their phishing emails look increasingly legitimate. Even more so with AI tools. However, there are several ways you can spot a phishing email and phony websites. Moreover, our McAfee Scam Protection can do it for you.
You can take two steps to help protect your personal info from being at risk via social media. One, think twice about what you share in that post or photo — like the location of your child’s school or the license plate on your car. Two, set your profile to private so that only friends can see it. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and others give you the option of making your profile and posts visible to friends only. Choosing this setting keeps the broader internet from seeing what you’re doing, saying, and posting, which can help protect your privacy and gives a scammer less info to exploit. Using our Social Privacy Manager can make that even easier. With only a few clicks, it can adjust more than 100 privacy settings across their social media accounts — making them more private as a result.
The “S” stands for secure. Any time you’re shopping, banking, or sharing any kind of personal info, look for “https” at the start of the web address. Some browsers also indicate HTTPS by showing a small “lock” icon. Doing otherwise on plain HTTP sites exposes your personal info for anyone who cares to monitor that site for unsecured connections.
By locking your devices, you protect yourself that much better from personal info and data theft in the event your device is lost, stolen, or even left unattended for a short stretch. Use your password, PIN, facial recognition, thumbprint ID, what have you. Just lock your stuff. In the case of your smartphones, read up on how you can locate your phone or even wipe it remotely if you need to. Apple provides iOS users with a step-by-step guide for remotely wiping devices, and Google offers up a guide for Android users as well.
Theft of your personal info can lead to credit cards and other accounts being opened falsely in your name. What’s more, it can take some time before you even become aware of it, such as when your credit score takes a hit or a bill collector comes calling. By checking your credit, you can fix any issues that come up, as companies typically have a clear-cut process for contesting any fraud. You can get a free credit report in the U.S. via the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and likewise, other nations like the UK have similar free offerings as well.
Consider identity theft protection as well. A strong identity theft protection package pairs well with keeping track of your credit and offers cyber monitoring that scans the dark web to detect for misuse of your personal info. With our identity protection service, we help relieve the burden of identity theft if the unfortunate happens to you with $2M coverage for lawyer fees, travel expenses, lost wages, and more.
The post How to Protect Your Personal Info appeared first on McAfee Blog.
It’s no secret that when it comes to social networks, teen preferences can change dramatically from year to year. That holds with Twitter. Even though the social network has seen a dip in use overall, Twitter has proven its staying power among certain communities, and that includes teens.
According to a 2022 Pew Center Study, 23 percent of teens online use Twitter (down from 33 percent in 2014-15). Because of Twitter’s loyal fanbase, it’s important for tweeting teens as well as parents, and caregivers to understand how to engage safely on the fast-moving platform.
Many teens love the public aspect of Twitter. They see it as a fun place to connect with friends and stay up to date on sports, school news, memes, online trends and challenges, and popular culture. However, because the platform’s brief, 140–280-word format is so distinct from other popular networks such as TikTok, YouTube, and Snapchat, the online etiquette and ground rules for engagement are also distinct.
As fun as Twitter content is to share and consume, the platform still comes with hidden risks (as do all social networks).
Here’s a guide to help your family understand safe Twitter use and still have fun on this unique social network.
This is likely one of the most important phrases you can convey to your child when it comes to using Twitter. Every word shared online can have positive or negative repercussions. Twitter’s fast-moving, ticker-like feed can tempt users to underestimate the impact of an impulsive, emotionally charged tweet. Words—digital words especially—can cause harm to the reputation of the person tweeting or to others.
For this reason, consider advising your kids to be extra careful when sharing their thoughts or opinions, retweeting others, or responding to others’ tweets. We all know too well that content shared carelessly or recklessly online can affect future college or career opportunities for years to come.
There’s little more important these days than protecting your family’s privacy. Every online risk can be traced to underestimating the magnitude of this single issue.
It’s never too early or too late to put the right tools in place to protect your family’s privacy online. While Twitter has privacy and reporting features designed to protect users, it’s wise to add a comprehensive identity and privacy protection solution to protect your family’s devices and networks.
Kids get comfortable with their online communities. This feeling of inclusion and belonging can lead to oversharing personal details. Discuss the importance of keeping personal details private online reminding your kids to never share their full name, address, phone number, or other identity or location-revealing details. This includes discerning posting photos that could include signage, school or workplace logos, and addresses. In addition, advise family members not to give away data just because there’s a blank. It’s wise to only share your birthday month and day and keep your birth year private.
When is the last time you reviewed social media account settings with your child? It’s possible that, over time, your child may have eased up on their settings. Privacy settings on Twitter are easy to understand and put in place. Your child’ can control their discoverability, set an account to be public or private, and protect their tweets from public search. It’s easy to filter out unwanted messages, limit messages from people you don’t follow, and limit who can see your Tweets or tag you in photos. It’s also possible to filter the topics you see.
Respecting others is foundational to engaging on any social network. This includes honoring the beliefs, cultures, traditions, opinions, and choices of others. Cyberbullying plays out in many ways on Twitter and one of those ways is by subtweeting. This vague form of posting is a form of digital gossip. Subtweeting is when one Twitter user posts a mocking or critical tweet that alludes to another Twitter user without directly mentioning their name. It can be cruel and harmful. Discuss the dangers of subtweeting along with the concept of empathy. Also, encourage your child to access the platform’s social media guidelines and know how to unfollow, block, and report cyberbullies on Twitter.
Maintaining a strong parent-child bond is essential to your child’s mental health and the first building block of establishing strong online habits. Has your child’s mood suddenly changed? Are they incessantly looking at their phone? Have their grades slipped? An online conflict, a risky situation, or some type of bullying may be the cause. You don’t have to hover over your child’s social feeds every day, but it’s important to stay involved in their daily life to support their mental health. If you do monitor their social networks, be sure to check the tone and intent of comments, captions, and replies. You will know bullying and subtweeting when you see it.
We love to quote Spiderman’s uncle Ben Parker and remind families that “with great power comes great responsibility” because it sums up technology ownership and social media engagement perfectly. The more time kids spend online, the more comfortable they can become and the more lapses in judgment can occur. Consider discussing (and repeating often) that social media isn’t a right, it’s a privilege that carries responsibility and consequences.
The FBI estimates there are approximately 500,000 predators active online each day and that they all have multiple profiles. Anonymous, catfish, and fake accounts abound online wooing even the savviest digital native into an unsafe situation. Engaging on any social network can expose kids to a wide array of possible dangers including scammers, catfishes, and predators. Scams and predator tactics continue to get more sophisticated. For this reason, it’s important to candidly talk about online predator awareness and the ever-evolving tactics bad actors will go to deceive minors online.
Twitter continues to attract tweens and teens who appreciate its brevity and breaking news. While navigating online safety and social media can be daunting for parents, it’s critical to stay engaged with your child and understand their digital life. By establishing an open flow of communication and regularly discussing privacy and appropriate online behavior, you can create a culture of openness in your family around important issues. We’re rooting for you!
The post How to Protect Your Family’s Privacy on Twitter: A Guide for Parents and Kids appeared first on McAfee Blog.
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