Avoid a shocking data with destiny

Protect your identity or you risk losing everything Fraud is on the rise according to UK Finance, a collective voice for the UK banking and finance industry which represents around 300 firms.

Fraudsters are taking advantage of people spending more time online as our work and private lives change to a more virtual world.

UK Finance’s most recent report shows that criminals stole £753.9million through fraud in the first half of 2021 – up 30% annually.

Phishing and social media attacks are used to steal your financial data. They are a huge threat and are growing more widespread every year.

Many of these fraud attacks have resulted from your data being sold on to data brokers without your knowledge or agreement.

Fraudsters follow your online activity and digital footprint to profile you. Your data is then being sold on the dark web to thousands of companies. Some of these companies will sell it on; others will use it to make money.

This is something that concerns me greatly. We can do what we can to protect our physical wealth, but when the attacks come in a form that we don’t understand, how can we be expected to defend ourselves?

I want to change this. I want you to do what you can to limit your exposure to these threats. The first step is to be more vigilant about what information you are sharing with companies.

Something I started doing was to use a false date of birth where the information request was not necessary, such as a membership site or a mailing list. But please don’t try this with banks or finance providers.

Another thing you can do is clean up your virtual world, where your data is stored. This won’t remove the risk

Do what you can to limit your exposure to the risks... be much more vigilant

entirely, but if your data appears in fewer places, you reduce the opportunities for the criminals.

You can also look at the website Have I Been Pwned? – haveibeenpwned.com. This site is free to use and anyone can quickly assess if they may have been put at risk due to an online account of theirs having been compromised or “pwned” in a data breach.

Simply enter your email address and it will show sites which have previously been compromised and where your email may be at risk. This then allows you to ensure your password to these sites is changed immediately.

Another thing you can do is clean up where your email and data is stored. If you signed up to a mailing list you no longer use, you should ensure your data is deleted from this site in case they incur a data breach, and your personal data is compromised.

Another great free site is Rightly – right.ly. This site will look through your email inbox and create a list of sites that use your email address. It then creates an automated email which you can send to them which will tell them to delete your information under the GDPR legislation. The site allows you to select the sites you want to send this email to, so you won’t opt out of your favourite mailing list.

A data breach could cost you thousands of pounds. You protect your other assets, so why not protect your most valuable asset, your online identity?

For more money-planning ideas, search for the Money Planner podcast and WarrenShute.com