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5 Ways to Secure & Protect Your Digital Identity

Sep 06, 2021

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The internet has grown from simply being a business tool to storing our files, to managing our various social media accounts. Since people spend so much time on the internet daily, it makes sense that the rate of cybercrime is correspondingly increasing. Keeping yourself safe on the internet can be difficult, as there are millions of complex scams to look out for. We have compiled a list of 5 different ways for you to secure and protect your digital identity, which will hopefully help to keep you safe online.

What is the Risk?


These days, there are so many different pieces of information available about a person that are accessible online. This includes their email address, home address, bank details, social security number, medical history, etc. If a hacker were to collect enough of this information, they could easily steal a person’s identity.

In the case of identity theft, a hacker might use the victim’s credit to make large purchases. When the purchases are not paid off, the victim’s credit score is negatively affected. Another thing that can happen is the thief will use the individual’s medical insurance to make claims. When the victim goes to apply for insurance in the future, they will realize that it was all used up.

Additionally, hackers can simply log into the victim’s bank account by guessing or stealing their login information. They can then transfer money to themselves or apply for more credit. In this case, a credit monitoring service might not catch them because it appears to be a legitimate action by the account owner.

1. Avoid Posting Details on Social Media


Social media accounts are a hacker’s best friend due to the large amount of personal information that gets posted. By running a quick search of your profile, a hacker can find your birthday, hometown, family connections, and pet names. Hackers can use all of these details to hack into other accounts, such as your bank or credit union.

To avoid becoming a victim of identity theft, you should check the privacy settings on all your social media accounts. Make sure that no strangers can view your profile, and do not accept friend requests from people that you do not know. It is also a good idea to remove anything that does not need to be online, such as taking your email address off your Facebook profile page.

2. Run a Background Search on Yourself


The best way to find out information about yourself is by running a public data check or a background report. This way, you can see what information is readily available online and accessible to hackers. By staying aware of the situation, you can take steps to remove sensitive data relating to yourself, such as your home address or phone number.

Additionally, a background check would show strange incidents, such as a poor credit score or someone with the exact same name as you got arrested. These would be signs of identity theft, and you should investigate such discrepancies right away. You may need to contact the local authorities if you suspect that someone is performing illegal actions under your name. As soon as they confirm the identity theft, your name will be clear once again.

3. Check Your Bank Statements


Often, when companies experience a data breach, they will send out a letter, email, or phone call to all their clients to alert them. If you have heard that your bank accounts or other identifying information have gotten compromised, you will need to keep an eye out. Download all your bank statements as soon as they are ready and review them closely. If there are any fraudulent charges, you will need to let your bank and credit reporting agency know right away. If caught early, there is a good chance that you will get all your money back and new cards issued quickly. Going through all your transactions and seeing where your money is being spent will also help in terms of budgeting.

In addition to this, double-check that the addresses on your bank statements are correct. If a hacker were to access your account, they might try changing the address so that they would receive any payments or refunds instead of you.

4. Use Two-Factor Authentication


For any important online accounts, it is a good idea to enable two-factor authentication. This means that you will need multiple ways to confirm your identity before logging in. This could take the form of the following:

  • Receive a text or call to your mobile phone

  • Authenticator app

  • One-time passwords to your email address


These methods are often combined with your PIN, passcode, fingerprint, or facial recognition on your electronic device to ensure maximum protection. A recommendation would be that you use two-factor authentication for your bank accounts, credit reporting accounts, and IRS account, at the minimum.

5. Use a Password Manager


By now, everyone has heard that you need to have unique, reliable passwords of at least 12 characters for all your online accounts. This makes it harder for hackers to guess your credentials and log in to various accounts under your name. Even if hackers only manage to access your email inbox, they can collect vast amounts of information about you. Many people do not use strong passwords because they have difficulty remembering them.

A password management system will keep track of all your online passwords for you. These systems have encryption protection in place and have the purpose of keeping all the data safe inside. Many systems implement a policy of zero-knowledge. This means that if a hacker breaks in, there is no way for them to decipher the passwords. The one thing you will need to do is use a strong master password to access the system. You should also enable two-factor authentication for the manager, as mentioned above. This will keep your passwords as safe as they can be.