January 28th is International Data Privacy Day. It’s a reminder to take stock of what you do to ensure your personal data is protected. That means making sure your computing devices — computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones, use the latest software. That your applications are regularly updated for security fixes. That you use anti-malware software for protection, and, if necessary, protect personal data with encryption. That you use a password manager to keep control of all your passwords so you don’t use the same password twice. That you make sure your smartphone doesn’t have location tracking enabled full-time.
Be careful about anything personal you put on social media, including your birthday, and days when you’ll be away on vacation. Some people are proud but foolish enough post images of their drivers licences, company identification cards, passports and even airline boarding passes. These are all things thieves love to help impersonate you.
And, of course, be careful about reading and acting on email and text messages. Infected attachments are one of the biggest ways criminals infect computing devices. So think before you click.
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