Tips to keep your personal information safe

Some important and timely items to remember.  As thoughts and prayers go out to the people affected by Hurricane Harvey, the scammers will not be far behind.  Please do not give money and or credit card information to anyone who calls you soliciting donations for flood and hurricane relief.  If you wish to help out choose a known charity and contact them directly.  If you do get a call, inform the caller that you already gave, or hang up on them, but do not give them your credit card or other information.

 

Along the same lines, there is a new and improved scam dealing with how you owe money where you are demanded to contact either the IRS or FBI.  This latest scam is pretty good in that the fraudsters are using the IRS or FBI logo in the email to you.  Neither the IRS nor the FBI will email you.  They will send something via the Post Office or show up at your door with a warrant if you are really in trouble.  Delete the email.

 

I want to remind all of our school bound students about the Crypto Viruses.  Crypto Viruses are becoming more and more prevalent.  This strain of computer bug encrypts all of your files on the computer and holds them for ransom.  If you do not pay the ransom in the required amount of time the code is thrown away and your files are locked forever.  Please remember to back up your work, data and other important information on an external hard drive or in the cloud.  It is possible that the virus can jump to your files in the cloud.  Not all cloud providers will catch the change in your files as they encrypt,  so choose cloud providers carefully.  Also, do not leave the backup hard drive connected to the computer unless backing up because it could become encrypted too.  Do you really want to recreate all fifteen pages of the term paper after it is lost to encryption or just a run of the mill hard drive crash? 

 

One final item, Social Media.  The YoLo (You Only Live Once) mindset for having fun doesn’t take into consideration that the “once” you are living can go on for a number of years.  So, those pictures that are posted on your Facebook page, you know, the ones of you holding the red solo cup at the Tappa Kegg Aday frat house, or the indiscrete ones with your friends at spring break.  Yes, THOSE ONES!  Don’t put them online.  You see, future employers are going to do an online check on you sometime between getting your resume and possibly offering you a job.  Those fun times can and will come back to haunt you.  And the free speech you are exercising may not be the opinion of the person who will be interviewing you. 

 

Engage the brain and use some thought when going online or putting stuff online.  Because so many people have access to it, even some with legitimate reasons, it can cause you many problems.

 

"It’s not paranoia if they really are out to get you”

 

                                                                        -Joseph Heller, Catch-22