Don’t pull a Zuck: Protect yourself

The fact that someone can break into Mark Zuckerberg ’s Twitter account serves as a good reminder you can’t be too safe online, especially when dealing with your money.

Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, saw his Twitter account get compromised last week by a group called OurMine, which taunted the billionaire by posting “We are just testing your security” on his Twitter feed.

Brokerage and bank websites and apps offer great convenience, but they can also put your information at risk. There are ways to safeguard your data, including tips from brokerages and the Securities and Exchange Commission, including:

Lock down your email.

Your email often is used for resetting passwords for sites, including banks and brokerages. If your email isn’t secure, that opens a door. Be absolutely certain your email is locked down by using a strong password.

Don’t “recycle” passwords.

It’s tempting to choose one password on one site and repeat it across others. But this is a big no-no. “Never re-use your login credentials for your financial accounts anywhere else,” cautions Charles Schwab in a note to clients. It’s also important to change your password. If you think you might have trouble remembering all these passwords, there are tools to help. LastPass is a software tool that encrypts passwords so you can securely access them.

Turn on two-step verification.

Many websites, including LinkedIn, Twitter, some brokers and e-mail providers like Outlook.com, let you create a second password above and beyond your main password. Vanguard’s site requires you to select a picture as a second type of verification. Outlook.com can be set up to text a secondary password to your phone, or you can use a free app called Authenticator from Microsoft to generate secondary passcodes.

Lock down your network.

If using Wi-Fi at home, make sure you use the strongest encryption (WPA2-PSK), says Jose Dominguez, chief information security officer at TD Ameritrade. Don’t use public Wi-Fi networks when logging into your accounts, Dominguez says. Use cellular networks, such as tethering to your phone, when doing anything with a login, he says.