How many of you remember when a security question for an online account was, "What is your mother's maiden name?" I was looking for something the other day and did a search of my name. The info popped up and literally scared me.
I blame this whole mess on Ancestry dot com. (almost kidding) It started an avalanche of familial information for everyone to find their roots. Lots of free sites out there - yep. I found my first marriage license - and thankfully they don't have my age right, but I'm sure another site has it. My life and yours is now being broadcast to whoever wants to know where we've been and what we've done and who we did it with. It would seem that our family members are unwittingly adding to our outbreak of information on the www.
The thing is - this information is open to anyone, no matter where they live and what they do for a living. It isn't any wonder why our accounts get hacked. How much of your familial and financial information is out there - if you look, you will be surprised and disgusted.
I'm sure you speak the truth. I have information on Ancestry, Facebook, and bank online. My goose is cooked. Fortunately I'm not running for president or a top secret government job. Haven't done anything I mind the world knowing about, and even though I know it's a risk, I do love banking online and ordering online.
ReplyDeleteI never do any business on line but I'm sure I've clicked on enough stuff to put a lot out there. If I could start all over maybe I would be more careful but probably not as the whole computer world seems to be addictive.
ReplyDeleteI do think there is a down side to the massive use of computers and the associated devices that are continually "on line". In this day and age, even the average computer user can gain a lot of access to a person and a tech expert is capable of hacking into data bases and getting everything they want. Unfortunately, nearly all business today is being conducted on some type of computerized system.
ReplyDeleteI guess a person just has to be vigilant, use as much security software on their devices as they can and take advantage of computer fraud protection. Our regular household insurance now pays for Lifelock. I had already purchased Internet insurance prior to that happening. For the most part the fear is that someone will steal either your credit or identity and both are monitored.
I have used it once to clear up an instance where someone had fraudulently used one of my charge cards. They, also, contacted me once with an error made on my credit but there wasn't any financial repercussions in that case. It just took some time and effort to get the "misinformation" removed.
Hell, if you want to know who I did it with just ask me. LOL
ReplyDeleteP. S.
ReplyDelete1.) I had my PayPal account hacked and ended up closing my account with them. I had to have a new number from the card company. PayPal froze my account because they wanted even more of my identity than I was comfortable giving out.
2.) While traveling, I purchased some things in a big store on my credit card - something like WalMart - and I didn't notice that the cashier didn't put my slip in my bag. A couple weeks later, when I got home, I got a call from my CC company asking about certain charges. Evidently the cashier had kept my credit card information, somehow, and bought all kinds of things online as me for gifts to herself. It took a month to get squared away and I had to have a different card made again.
I have been a lot more careful since then, but it doesn't hurt to be in the know.