Handling your finances should always be taken seriously as your life depends on it. There’s nothing more frustrating than seeing your hard-earned money disappear, just because a cyber hacker suddenly decided to target your account. With that, you should be smart in keeping them secure for your safety.
Financial hackers are spreading each day, and unfortunately, millions of victims have already lost their money due to improper data handling. While you can always hire cybersecurity services in Toronto or any other city if you’re handling company finances, knowing how to protect your personal financial data is essential. With that, listed below are some ways to keep it secure:
1) Update Your Password Regularly
One of the best and most effective ways to secure your financial data without too much effort is by regularly updating your password. This way, a person would have difficulty figuring out your password as it changes every time they try to attempt. This small action could help keep your online accounts secure.
Ideally, you should be using passwords that are hard to guess. It shouldn’t contain any personal information, such as a name, birthday, or color. Furthermore, it’ll be best if you could mix upper- and lower-case letters, add numbers, and special characters. The more that you can make your passwords complicated, the better. Just ensure that you remember them, as it’s highly recommended that you update your password at least every three months.
2) Use A VPN
While it’s more of a preventive measure, using a VPN to access your financial data would help keep any hackers away. Since you’re using a Virtual Private Network (VPN), you’re using a different IP address that hackers wouldn’t be able to keep track of, giving them a hard time accessing your financial data. It’d also be helpful if you could use a different network every time you log in to prevent leaving any trail marks.
It’s highly recommended that you use a VPN every time you make any online financial transaction. This includes transferring money from one bank account to another and making other online payments, especially when purchasing from an online store. A VPN allows you to hide your IP address every time you make an online purchase enabling your account to be safe from potential hackers.
3) Keep Your Software And Operating System Up To Date
As you’re making an online financial transaction, it’s best to keep your software and operating systems up to date. When you choose to ignore updating your computers or devices, it might allow potential hackers to come in through your accounts.
Every software and operating system update usually includes heightened security measures that prevent hackers from entering your account. Updating this allows your device to be more secure, giving you peace of mind and knowing that your accounts will be safe from any updated scams or viruses you might encounter.
4) Don’t Click On Any Links Or Attachments
Most often, you might be receiving plenty of emails or texts which contain suspicious links or attachments that might tempt you to click on them. If the links or attachments are from people you don’t trust or are from a stranger, you should ignore the message as it may contain viruses that will allow hackers to access your financial data records. If you could delete them, it’ll be better for your security.
Before clicking any links or attachments from any messages you received, you should check first the credentials and validity of the person who sent the message to you. Moreover, you should also see the link itself and see if it’s suspicious or something unfamiliar that the company or person sent to you. The rule of thumb is to never open any links or attachments from people you don’t know.
5) Be Cautious About Using Public Wi-Fi
Whenever you go outside, and you don’t have enough data for you to access the Internet and are left with no choice but to use public Wi-Fi, you should be more cautious about your actions, as you can never trust this kind of connection. Public Wi-Fi allows you to access the Internet without any cost, but it may bring harm to your financial accounts.
If you must use public Wi-Fi, avoid accessing any online financial accounts as the person who is giving the public access might just be looking for people to hack. While this doesn’t apply to every public Wi-Fi, it’s best to do these safe practices to prevent the possibility of hacking into your account. Wait until you get a more reliable internet connection before accessing your online accounts.
6) Contact The Institution Directly
Cold calling is getting more popular again these days. There are plenty of institutions that will contact and offer you their services that you might be interested in. While their offers might sound really inviting, it’s best to decline any of those offers and just contact the institutions directly in case you’re interested in availing yourself of their service.
There might be instances where a person might just be pretending to be a part of the invitation as they can speak professionally, making them sound trustworthy and legitimate. Before giving out any details to these institutions, you should contact them directly. You can look for their contact numbers on their website, or you might want to consider visiting them directly at their branches or office for face-to-face communication.
7) Shred Printed Documents
When you talk about financial data, there might be instances where you’ll be keeping printed documents with plenty of personal information, such as your full name, address, contact number, account numbers, and bank statement. These are usually the receipts or statements that a bank would send to your home for your notice. However, if you don’t plan on keeping them as you’re satisfied with just knowing the information, you should throw them away properly.
Before you just crumple your paper to throw it in the trash, you should shred it first. This will help to avoid leaking any confidential information, which could put your financial data at risk. This way, your details would be difficult to recover, especially if you mix them with other documents that you no longer need.
Takeaway
Keeping your financial data secure should always be on top of your priority list. One missed step might make you lose your hard-earned money, putting extreme stress and anxiety on you. While some might require you to do some additional actions, it’ll help guarantee your financial records’ safety. This way, you can be at peace knowing that your money will be safe at any time of the day.
