Regular readers of our blog know that we love to pass along safety tips that everyone can use!
A great site for information is www.onguardonline.gov. This excellent site can help you keep your identity and valuables safe, give you news about current scams, and give you some general good information.
One important thing we can all do to keep our information safe is to protect our electronic devices. A thief can swipe your device in a minute. If you are lucky, the thief will wipe it clean and sell it for quick cash. If you are unlucky, the thief will steal and use the information that is on it. After a shopping spree, that same thief can sell your personal information, create havoc online, and then sell the device itself.
Onguardonline recommends these tips to keep your laptop from getting lost or stolen. (most of these also apply to a tablet or a smart phone).
- Treat your tablet, laptop or smartphone like cash.
- Don’t leave it in the car
- Keep it locked (you can get a security cable for some devices)
- Keep it off the floor, or put it between and touching your feet
- Keep your passwords somewhere else (My own note: if this is impractical, at least invest in a secure, paid, encrypted, reputable, password storage app that erases the information after a few wrong log in attempts.)
- Don’t leave it for “just a sec”
- Pay attention in airports- especially in security (My own tip: and also pay attention to your back pocket, and open purse on the back of your chair).
- Use bells and whistles (you can use an alarm or other security protection apps and passwords).
