Data Breaches

From Our Friends at Integrity Computer Consulting and Repair

We all are becoming very accustomed to the perils of the an increasingly digital world.

So you got a letter in the mail that your data that was held with a company or organization was compromised.  Do not disregard the information in these letters! Often times they will provide you with additional identity protection services at no cost to you.

For more information on what happens in a data breach, USA Today has a current article (8/3/2023) with a lot of good information in it.  To read it click here.

To help safeguard your information, we recommend:

1. Protect your personal information at all costs. This includes your full name, phone number, email, and even more identifying information such as social security numbers, birth dates, and addresses. Is it really necessary to provide your birthday to a retailer to get that 10% birthday discount?   
2. Password protect your phone and computer. If these devices fall into the wrong hands what do they have access to? Many of us have apps for everything from health care to shopping, banking to social media, protect access to them.
3. Make sure your passwords for online accounts are secure even if the site you're logging into does not require it.  We recommend using a combination of upper and lower case letters, with numbers AND special characters and not using any recognizable words.  For example, a password of "Ilovedogs" can be made more secure by changing all the vowels to look-alike numbers and special characters, breaking up the actual words into something more secure: !L0v3d0Gs. 
4. Use two step authentication if it is available.
5. Get into a habit of changing your password on a schedule (especially if it is a site that houses financial information or credit card numbers), even though it is a pain, we recommend changing passwords every 30 days.  Write down your passwords and keep them in a safe place.
6. Do not use the same password for every site.  Make each password different (even if it is off by one or two characters) and keep a record of it.
7. Use the least amount of personal details possible when setting up an online account. 
8. OPT OUT OF SAVING CREDIT AND DEBIT CARD INFORMATION on websites. Check out as guest if you can.

If you have any questions about a suspicious email, call, or text, feel free to contact our office via phone 208.288.4345 or email info@integrityidaho.com.