If this happens, you get a terrifying notification informing you of a data breach in your organization. These can be used to hack into your employer’s network and steal critical data.
SOPHOS HOME FREE. PROFESSIONAL
This is a scenario tailormade for identity theft where criminals can hit paydirt if they access your professional credentials. For many, personal PCs and Macs double up as workstations as well. At a time when work-from-home is the norm, we need to be doubly sure that not only our personal information, but also sensitive organizational information remains safe and secure. Criminals can steal your personal information, as well as your organizational credentials. This is the big one when it comes to signs of identity breach. Identity thieves might be making purchases in your name, and you’ll only hear about it when a bill collector comes knocking on your doors.Īny discrepancy in your bills or statements should start ringing the alarm bells in your head. It’s even possible to change the address where physical copies of bills or statements are sent. Those bills are still being sent – just no longer to you. This could be a sign that identity thieves might have gained access to your personal information and have used it to change your email ID. If those stop arriving, don’t just assume it’s a glitch and will sort itself out. You likely receive bills or statements every month from your bank or credit cards. Your credit score determines your financial viability and if there are problems with it not of your making, you know your personal information has been compromised. If you see anything suspicious, like a loan inquiry, that you didn’t make, or even an unfamiliar account attached to your score, ask the bureau to investigate such false information.
SOPHOS HOME FREE. FREE
Typically, you can ask for a free credit report from these organizations once every year, so you can check your credit report every four months. Make it a habit to periodically ask for a credit report from one of the three major bureaus that provide such reports: TransUnion, Experian and Equifax. It important that you keep an eye out for such anomalies and take appropriate steps when something doesn’t feel right. In this case, you might get an OTP on your phone requesting you authenticate the mobile number, or an email that provides information about the new credit card or a letter from the issuer sent to your home address. It’s also possible criminals gain access to all information the required to get new cards made in your name. If a transaction looks suspicious, flag it with the merchant or card issuer. Keep an eye out for fraudulent purchases made on your credit card. Initially, criminals will make small charges to see if these go through – and if they do, they can hit your card for a big transaction. If your financial ID has been stolen, a telltale sign is some charges on your credit card that you have no clue about.
If you are one of those that don’t, it’s time to start.
There is a tendency to forget about certain transactions we’ve made in a given day, or we just don’t keep track of them – do you remember the last cup of coffee you bought with your credit or debit card? Come the end of the month, we make our credit card payment as scheduled, but how many of us actually go through the credit statement with a fine toothcomb?
Most of our purchases happen through card transactions, whether online or in person. Unexplained credit card entries/chargesĬredit card usage is ubiquitous these days. Watch out for warning signs that your personal information is not ‘personal’ anymore. And even though we might exercise the strictest cyber hygiene, our information can still pass on to criminals. We often willingly, but unknowingly, share our personal information with phishers, scammers, and cybercriminals. These crumbs are then picked up and exploited by cybercriminals to impersonate us and use this information for a range of illicit activities. It is important to understand that this leaves digitized crumbs of our personal information behind. We are living in an extremely digitized world where we use online banking, credit card, investment accounts and every day. You might read about it and think, I’m not falling for that, but the fact is you have probably already inadvertently exposed personal information to a criminal. Identity theft is not something is going to happen to someone else. Start protecting your identity by changing your thinking.
SOPHOS HOME FREE. HOW TO
You’ve got to be able to protect personal information and increase your education and awareness about how to mitigate your risks. Identity theft continues to grow, and your identity is on the radar of cybercriminals. Meanwhile, the FTC received 2.8 million fraud reports in 2021.
According to The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), the first three quarters of 2021 saw 1,291 breaches.
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