What I’ve Been Up To

Keep Your Identity Safe This Holiday Season

Tomorrow, as you may have heard, is Free Shipping Day. It’s exactly what it sounds like – over 1,000 merchants will be waiving shipping charges for customers who shop on their websites.

It’s a great deal, and in many cases, your last chance to shop online and have your purchase delivered by Christmas Eve (unless, of course, you’re willing to pay extra for expedited shipping).

With all of this online shopping comes elevated security risks. I recently collaborated with Norton and Javelin Strategy & Research on a new study that found that consumers are under-informed about three key areas: location-based services, mobile phone transactions, and online passwords. In other words, we’re telling people where we are (via social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter), using our phones to check our bank balances, and making our passwords too obvious (Hint: If it’s the name of your dog or your birthday, it’s time to switch it up).So here, some tips to keep you safe tomorrow and in the new year:

• Don’t update your location.  Sure, it seems like you’re just sharing with friends – your network on Facebook, for instance – but this information could easily get in the wrong hands.  Only your family, close friends and trusted neighbors need to know that you’re going out of town for a few days over the holidays, or that you’ll be out at a party on Friday night.  Updating your Facebook, Twitter or FourSquare status with this information, or letting your phone’s applications have access to your location, could inadvertently let thieves know when you’re not home.  Not a good idea.
• Put a password on your cell phone.  Make sure that any financial applications you’ve downloaded require a password for access, but also set password protection on your phone itself.  You can typically set your phone to require a password after a period of inactivity.  The shorter the period, the more secure your information is.
• Use public WiFi sparingly. I love free WiFi, and I use it in airports and coffee shops all the time.  But I don’t use it to shop online or check my bank balance, or in other situations where I’m going to be entering personal information. These public platforms are too easily hacked. Save your banking and shopping for home, when you’re on your own personal – and password protected – network.
• Stick to one credit card. If you use one credit or debit card for all of your holiday shopping, you’ll be able to easily spot suspicious purchases if your information is stolen and used.
• Change your passwords.  Giving a cyber thief access to your email account – through an easy to crack password – could also give him or her access to confirmation emails from online purchases, which may contain sensitive financial information like your credit card number.  Nearly half of the people in our survey said they never change their passwords.  If that’s you, now’s the time.  Update your passwords every few months or so, and use different ones for different sites and accounts.