Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Protect Yourself from Phishing or Identity Theft!




When you open your email think about the following:


A Phisher e-mails a potential victim claiming to be from a familiar source (a bank, Paypal, credit card co, etc). The message contains a threat or question requiring the victim to go to the company site by the link in the email. The victim clicks on the link and is taken to a site that looks real but it’s a fake. The victim enters his sensitive information, (account #’s, passwords, etc). The phisher uses the data to access the real corporate site to steal money and for identity theft.


Hacking your password gets much harder if you follow these tips.


1. The longer the password the better (go for 8 characters or more)
2. Use a mix of upper and lower case letters.
3. Use numbers and at least 1 special character.

If you get an e-mail you are not sure about, contact the source (the bank, credit card co, etc)directly, do not click on any link in the e-mail. Your bank may want you to forward the email to them so that they can follow the hacker. Protect yourself by not sharing information with people you may or may not know and being a little more cautious even with people you think you know. Think about all this when you set up your social networking.


Protect yourself!

Leigh

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