HOW TO SAFEGUARD OUR PERSONAL AND FINANCIAL DATA??????

Personal and financial data are important for an individual. When personal and financial data have been stolen, these data might be abused by the data theft due with illegal transactions. Therefore, we must be very careful in protecting these data and aware of the possibility to become the next victim. The following are some tips that i would like to share with you all in helping you guys to safeguard his personal and financial data:

• Use a credit card with a small limit for online purchases or online shopping. It is because the likelihood that a dishonest sales clerk to use your credit card information. If the card you use for these purchases has a low credit limit, at least thieves won't be able to bulk credit purchase at a single time.
  


• Review your monthly statements. Try to keep your receipts and thoroughly check your account statements as soon as they arrive. So next time when you are going to shopping, don’t you forget to put your receipts in your wallet. By reviewing your monthly statements not only will alert you to possible fraudulent charges, you may also find legitimate charges for services that are either redundant or no longer necessary.

• Don't use the same password everywhere. It is believed that almost people are using the same password everywhere. The email address and password combination could get the same thieves into every account you hold if you routinely use the same email address and password at all locations.



• Avoid saving credit card info, etc on shopping sites. Most of the websites today, such as Amazon, eBay, Orbitz, give their buyers the option to save their credit card information so that they don’t need to retype in all the information each time they want to buy something. That’s great for them, easy money and more sales, but their buyers’ credit card numbers and bank account numbers may be hacked and download by someone. It is just taking an extra minute to type your information all over again, but it is better to not save your information on any shopping site.

• Keep your personal and sensitive data off your computer. Try your best to keep bank account numbers, passwords, etc off your computer. If you want to keep it in electronic format for easy access, that’s fine, simply buy a flash drive or pendrive and store all the sensitive files there. Keep it in a safe place and if you need to refer to the documents, then just plug in your drive.
  


• Choose your PIN wisely. While you want to select something you will remember, you don’t want it to be something that a clever thief could figure out just by learning your birth date or your child's name. A combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols will offer you more security.



• Protect your computer's security. Use as many tools as you can (anti-virus software, spyware, firewalls, and passwords) to guard your computer information from being hacked by hacker.



• Always think before providing information when solicited. If you ever sign up an email that required any personal information, make sure that you go to the website yourself manually and provide only necessary information about yourself. A web site exists does not mean it is legitimate! If you’ve never heard of the site before, just type it into Google once and see if anything like “XXX IS A SCAM” pops up!



• Keep your e-mail private, use encryption. Many people perceived that email is not a secure medium. It is said so because email can be easily accessed and read by unintended third parties. Presently, there exist technologies that allow you to encrypt your messages before you send in order to protect your privacy.

• Turn your computer off or on standby when you’re not using it. This is kind of tip, if your computer is not on, then what can a hacker, virus, or anything else possibly does? Nothing! So make sure you shut down or put your computer into sleep mode when you are not there.



• Don't trust threats. Your bank will never contact you via email with any threat of legal action or security breach. They also won’t offer you earn money via email. If there is some threat for action in an email message, assume it is bunk. Otherwise call the business that supposedly sent it and get customer service on the line. If you are still not convinced the email isn’t real. The operator will provide you information about your account and will be happy to make you comfortable with your account status.
  


• Lock your computer at home and at the office. When you are out for lunch from your office, it is believed that most of the computers are just on without a password-protected screen saver, it might be easier for a co-worker to get into your computer and look through your data. Therefore, it is better to lock your compute or put password on your screen saver.



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• Don’t use the same usernames. It also wise to use different usernames when possible. It is an advice to pick a unique username for your bank, eBay, your credit card company’s site and other website that has personal financial data about yourself.

Failing to protect your data is just as bad as leaving your door unlocked, your windows wide open, and a sign on the mat, saying, "Burglars, come on in."

No need to make the thieves' jobs any easier. Though they're not foolproof, these simple tips will help ensure that your personal and financial data is a whole lot safer.

---------->prepared by: Lyon :)