This can be the manager built into your browser of choice, or it can be a standalone app. Use a password manager that generates strong passwords you don’t have to remember.These are some best practices to consider: A data breach of one service provider is especially dangerous if you haven’t followed best practices in how you set up credentials. The first is to avoid accidentally exposing the credentials you use with accounts. You can do a number of things to reduce the risks posed by data breaches and identity fraud. No financial damage was done, but it made me take a long, hard look at how I protect online accounts. The attacker found the email address associated with my Twitter account through a breach at a data aggregator-information probably gleaned from other applications that I had linked to my Twitter account at some point.
As someone whose livelihood is tied to getting the word out about things with a verified Twitter account, this went beyond inconvenience and was really screwing with my job. It took several weeks and some high-level communication with Twitter to restore my account. Even though I had taken multiple measures to prevent the theft of my account (including two-factor authentication), the attacker made it impossible for me to log in (though they were locked out of the account as well). Other valuable parts of your digital life may not carry specific monetary risks to you but could still have a tangible impact on your privacy, safety, and overall financial health.Ĭase in point: last September, my Twitter account was targeted for takeover by an unidentified attacker. Losses from these thefts are expected to reach $721.3 billion for 2021-and that’s only counting cases where criminals take over and abuse online accounts. But the physical devices you use represent only a fraction of your overall digital exposure.Īccording to a report by Aite Group, nearly half of US consumers experienced some form of identity theft over the last two years. In the first half of this guide to personal digital security, I covered the basics of assessing digital risks and protecting what you can control: your devices.
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