As our lives become more and more integrated with technology, it is important to protect yourself and your family from online criminals.  It’s no secret that as technology becomes more prominent and sophisticated, so do the techniques used by criminals. According to Emsisoft*, US ransomware attacks cost an estimated $915 million in 2020 and the Harris Poll states that one out of five Americans has dealt with a ransomware attack.  One of, if not the biggest, areas that cyber criminals target is money and finances. In fact, every quarter our team has to go through online training on security “best practices” for your accounts, but we can only protect your accounts up to a point. The rest is up to you. Are you proactively protecting your accounts and using best practices to keep your accounts secure? Here are some tips and tricks from some of the best and brightest people who have worked in government security on cyber security:

• Create strong passwords that are different for each account.
• Can’t keep track of all those different passwords? Use a password storage system to store your passwords encrypted and easy to pull up when needed.
• Beware of urgent requests. The only person who should be able to issue an urgent request is you. If someone else is rushing you, be alert!
• If you are sending sensitive information electronically be sure to do so safely – encrypt the emails.
• Make sure all money wires are voice-verified. This is a policy here at David Adams Wealth Group. We never move money or make trades without verification from the account holder over the phone or in person!
• Watch for any changes in your accounts. If you notice anything that seems strange, look into it.
• Confirm the email address where you are sending things. Look for anything that may seem off with the email. Spoofing is a common new practice used where an email appears to come from someone it is not.

Nothing about the above is meant to scare you, it truly is about helping you identify and know what to be on the lookout for when it comes to internet and web security. As technology becomes more and more prevalent in our everyday lives there are always going to be those who try to take advantage of others. Taking small steps, like those above to get ahead of those people are some of the best things you can do to prevent fraud happening to you and your family.

As always, if you have any questions for us, never hesitate to reach out: 615-435-3644 | davidadamswealthgroup@raymondjames.com

*https://blog.emsisoft.com/en/37314/the-state-of-ransomware-in-the-us-report-and-statistics-2020/