Insight Article

Master of Your Own Web: Strategies to Protect Your Identity from Hackers

August 21, 2024 | by Kushner LaGraize, LLC

August 20, 2024  | Chris Dodge, MCSE

The internet is swarming with scams and hackers just waiting and creating opportunities to steal your ID, your credit, and your money.  You should be skeptical of everything you encounter that is asking for your information or for you to log in.  Hover over links on websites or in email to verify it’s going where you are expecting it to go as well as that the site in your browser’s address bar is secure.  Make sure the reply to an email you receive is actually going back to the email address it should be, email is spoofed and even hacked every day.

Use a stronger, more complex password for sites that should be more secure like your credit card / banking sites for example.  With so many passwords, having a password manager is a good idea.  Unless your computer is in a secure location you should never write your passwords down and keep them near your computer, especially for more sensitive sites.  Use Two-Factor / Multi Factor Authentication (2FA, MFA) whenever it is available, the highest level security sites already require it like banks.  When using public WiFi, it is better to use a VPN if you are doing anything that includes your confidential / highly secure information.

Remember, most of your information is probably already out there available on the dark web of the internet.  You should set up accounts with the credit reporting agencies so you get notifications of new accounts and inquiries.  You may even go to the extent of locking your credit and only unlocking it when you know you are going to apply for new credit then re-lock it after.

Keep your devices & apps up-to-date, if you are using a device / computer that is no longer receiving security updates, you should go ahead and upgrade to a newer device that does (for example, Windows 10 is only supported to October 14, 2025.  After this date you should either upgrade to Windows 11 or replace the computer), better to be safe than sorry.  Always have a passcode on your phone and don’t use easy to guess numbers like all one number or 1234 for example.

On your home router there are things you can do to help keep it secure.  Change the default admin login for your router, don’t leave it the default or what is printed on the router itself and make sure it is complex.  Disable remote access to the router unless you are going to use it (most people don’t) and if you do, use a complex password for it.  If you have had your router for a few years, check to make sure the firmware is up-to-date if it doesn’t have an auto-update feature.  Disable UPnP and verify in the router’s interface that it is set to use WPA3 encryption or WPA2 if WPA3 is not an option, don’t select earlier encryption variations and if you have no choice but an older one like WEP or WPA, it’s time to get a new router.

Lastly, do not re-use passwords on multiple sites.  If one site gets hacked (you will most likely not find out about it until maybe months later) and you use the same password all over the internet, the hacker could have access to many of your internet accounts.  This is why a password manager makes sense if you have too many passwords to remember and have to use the same one for multiple sites.