Insight Article

Protecting Your Personal Information in the Wake of Security Breaches

August 17, 2023 | by Kushner LaGraize, LLC

Because of the MOVEIt security breach including over 31 million individuals impacted so far (all information included on drivers licenses and vehicle registrations in the La OMV was stolen plus the personal information from many other organizations) you should be actively monitoring your credit for fraudulent activity at the least and possibly even freeze your credit.  Most online bank accounts offer some form of credit monitoring and information.

Email accounts are hacked and spoofed all the time, don’t fall victim to them.  Remember to treat every email with a file attached or link in it as though it could be malicious.  Hover over links to make sure it is going where you are expecting, make sure a file attached to the email is expected and if not, verify with the sender.  Watch for tell take signs that an email is not good such as the sender’s email shows their name but a completely different email address, bad grammar, asks you to do something out of the ordinary, or even if it’s just that the email is atypical from the sender.

If you get a bill or invoice for services you didn’t know about (especially for anti-virus services) with a number to call, it is most likely a scam.  If you get a window on your computer that says it is infected to call a number or click a link, reboot it or force the browser to close, it’s a browser hijack scam.

Never use the same password for multiple online accounts, especially the most important ones like bank and email accounts for example.  Don’t send email with your personally identifiable information in it, especially your Social Security number, it could be used for identity theft.