How to safeguard our personal and financial data?

In this new century, many people are relying on computer and Internet to do their chores, including their working tasks. More advance online technology is being developed from time to time to make our daily life more convenient, such as e- banking, e- commerce, and so on. However, since data is sent back and forth through various servers where personal and information and financial data are housed, data that is moving from one server to another server may be intercepted and recorded. Besides that, such personal and financial information that are stored in our computer are also vulnerable to exposure and may be illegally used by people. Therefore, certain safeguards should be used to protect your personal and financial information.

One of the safeguard will be using and maintaining antivirus software and firewall. Antivirus softwares can protect our computers against viruses, worms, and Trojan Horses from stealing or modifying your data on your computer. It is important to always keep our antivirus up to date, and if possible to turn on the automatic update option For example, Norton antivirus and AVG antivirus. Firewall can protect our computers and data from unauthorized intrusions.

Besides that, we should also regulary scan our computer for spyware an adware.These hidden files enable attackers to gain access to your data. Thus, it is necessary to have a legitimate anti-spyware program to scan and remove those files.

We should also consider creating separate user accounts. If your computer is being used by many users, it may be chances that other users may accidentally access, modify, or delete your files. By having separate user accounts, it gives you additional protection.

Next, it is better to always use usernames and passwords. We should create passwords that would be hard for others to guess. If possible, use a combination of numbers and letters. We should avoid using passwords such as identity card number and date of birth. It is also important not to write the password down and carry it in wallet or briefcase. We should also not reveal those passwords to anyone.

When we want to send data to others, it is better to use encryption technique. Encryption is a process of converting readable data into unreadable characters. By encrypting files, unauthorized people will not able to view the data even if they can physically access it.

In addition, we should dispose off sensitive information properly. We should not dispose our ATM or credit card receipts in a public place. We should also ensure that we erase unwanted files in our computer completely and not just simply deleting them. For credit card and bank statements, we should shred, rather than toss those documents.

Other safeguards include:

• avoid clicking on pop-up ads or downloading information from unknown sites
• use your own computer instead of a workplace or public computer to access financial and other sensitive personal information.
• Log out any website’s account rather than just simply closing the account window

We should always follow good security to protect our personal and financial data. For more security tips, you may refer to this website:

http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/tips/

References:
http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/103893/Six-Ways-to-Safeguard-Your-Online-Assets

http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/tips/ST06-008.html