Parenting kids is hard enough, parenting kids with social media is another thing…
Without clear guidance from us as parents, and education on the consequences of oversharing, our kids can open themselves to damages we can’t even predict. This is an enormous challenge, but a challenge worth understanding and taking on.
Strong boundaries and education around social media are important as data thieves, and other criminals, don’t consider age a deterrent.
In fact, a child’s information has more value to an identity thief than an adult because they have clean credit files and typically a longer length of time before discovery, creating even more damage.
Helping our kids to understand what they are doing, what impacts their social media behavior has in the long term is more important than ever. If our job is to equip them to face this world without us, we have to ensure they are aware of the implications of their online activities.
Talk to your kids about how to avoid strangers. Have conversations about revealing too much about themselves and their family. Give them tips on social media safety and talk to them about things that could be a red flag. And encourage them to come to you when uncomfortable things happen or if they have any questions.
Tips for Kids and Parents
Learn about social media platforms. Whichever app your child wants to be on, learn about it. Read the reviews, age restrictions, and the fine print.
Get an account before your kids. Learn the app, make sure you know exactly what they can and cannot do.
Teach your child about posting. Every post, comment, like, and share is part of your kid’s digital footprint. And deleting a post does not mean it is gone. Inappropriate posts may have an impact on their lives later. Posts may not seem like a big deal now but it could hurt them in the future. Most college admissions and employers are looking at social media accounts.
Emphasize the importance of privacy. Many social media sites request information such as names, dates of birth, school names, and hometown. Teach them about how much information is too much information. The information exposed online can create exposure and vulnerability to Identity theft.
Do healthcare breaches and Medical ID Theft go hand in hand?
I first want to refer back to an article from about two years ago titledTelehealth Creates Creates Cyber Risks. In the article, I stated that “the COVID-19 pandemic has increased consumer risks through cyber scams and medical identity theft.”
Fast forward one year to August 4, 2021 article titled Healthcare Data Breaches Most-Common Threats to Date in 2021. The article states, “the healthcare sector is once again in the top position as the most breached economic sector” and “healthcare has been at or near the top of the (data breach) chart since at least 2017.”
A primary reason ID theft criminals and cyber thieves target healthcare providers is the Electronic Health Record or EHR. EHR is the collection of patient information into a digital record. EHRs significantly improve administrative efficiency and medical proficiency through shared networks and exchanges.
A typical EHR includes
medical history,
medications,
allergies,
immunizations,
laboratory test results,
and radiology images.
Your EHR also includes your
billing information such as personal information (e.g. date of birth, home address, and Social Security Number),
insurance information,
and financial information (e.g. credit card number).
Unfortunately, ID theft criminals and cyber thieves are mostly interested in your personal, insurance, and billing information. For this fact alone, healthcare data breaches continue to be “in the top position as the most breached economic sector.”
Things to Think About
Every health insurance plan you have ever had has your and your family’s Social Security Number (SSN). Almost every healthcare provider (such as a doctor of medicine or osteopathy, podiatrist, dentist, chiropractor, clinical psychologist, optometrist, nurse practitioner, nurse-midwife, or clinical social worker) that you or a family member have been to has your Social Security Number.
So back to the title of this article – Do healthcare breaches and Medical ID Theft go hand in hand? – the answer is a resounding YES based on the Personal Health Information or PHI that is collected, stored, and transferred through your Electronic Health Record.
To make matters worse, this article titled Organization Wide PHI Access is Commonplace at Most Healthcare Orgs reported that “nearly 20 percent of (PHI) files were open to every employee at a given healthcare organization starting on their first day of employment, pointing to troubling data security issues and poor PHI access controls.”
Based on the fact that cyber thieves are stealing healthcare data and are finding new ways to monetize phishing (fraudulent emails), vishing (fraudulent phone calls and voice mail messages) and smishing (fraudulent text messages), consumers need to pay attention to data breach news in general and healthcare data breach news in particular.
To conclude, consumers can also reduce their risk of medical identity theft by safeguarding their health insurance cards, and regularly reviewing credit reports, medical benefit explanations, medical bills, and prescription bills.
Whether you are a consumer or a small-business owner Identity Theft should be top of mind. Protect yourself and your business by using these 10 tips to reduce your risk of identity theft.
First, what is Breach Fatigue or Alarm Fatigue?
Alarm fatigue is when we get desensitized to safety alerts and as a result, ignore or fail to respond appropriately to warnings. Breach Fatigue however is more specific. It’s when small business owners and consumers start to ignore the headlines of identity theft and data breaches. Fatigue desensitizes both business owners and consumers to be less likely to proactively protect themselves against the risks of identity theft.
Be proactive and prepared with these 10 Tips
Being proactive and prepared can reduce your exposure to the risks of identity theft.
Personal privacy
Be more vigilant and hands-on with your personal-privacy settings. Also, be aware that most apps lack basic security defenses and create some sort of privacy issue.
Stop ignoring terms and conditions. Read, understand, and use privacy settings and be diligent about your social networking. Beware of fake accounts unless you want to be a partner in your own identity theft.
Protect your vehicle documents as if they were cash and regularly check for unusual activities after purchasing a vehicle.
Read and understand the privacy policies of every organization you have a relationship with. Know how your information is protected, saved, analyzed, sold, and/or disclosed.
Identity theft
Synthetic identity theft and fraud is an emerging threat. Check your credit-bureau report quarterly at no cost through annualcreditreport.com.
No password is “unbreakable”. Do not make it easy for identity theft criminals by using weak passwords, or the same passwords.
The best defense against phishing is to be aware that it happens every day. Assume you are being “phished” until you verify the source of an unexpected e-mail or call.
Cybersecurity
Businesses need to understand that a data breach is inevitable. Your business profits, brand, and reputation depend on your data-breach response plan.
Create a data breach response plan to safeguard your business against insider threats. Conduct pre-employment background screening, regularly test your business and information-security access controls, and regularly review your data retention policy.
Cyber insurance may be a good option to help your business minimize today’s cyber-risks. Work with your insurance broker to determine your cyber-risks and the best coverage for your organization.
“the best defense is a good offense”. This strategic principle used in business, sports, and military combat for years and is very relevant for this discussion.
Protect yourself and your business by using these 10 tips to reduce your risk of identity theft. Because being proactive instead of having a passive attitude (e.g., breach fatigue) will help both small business owners and consumers be better prepared against everyday threats.
By Mark Pribish
Practice Leader, Identity Theft and Data Breach Services
Here is a story of a stolen check – ID Theft, how they found out about it, and what they did.
Sally and her husband were living in student housing in Chicago. She was supporting both of them at the time when a personal check was stolen. Because they were living in an apartment run by the university, all rent payments had to come out of her husband’s bank account. This led to a complicated financial situation. At the time money transfers were more complicated so Sally would have to write her husband a check through the bank and have it sent to them by mail. But, this time the check included rent and a portion of their tax return and it never got to them.
How Sally Found Out
Sally followed up with the bank to cancel her check. The bank indicated that they couldn’t do it because it had already been cashed. The bank provided an image of the check and someone else had signed her husband’s name to the check.
What She Did About It
To be able to afford their monthly rent payment while sorting out the stolen money situation, Sally opened a credit card through her bank and borrowed cash from her credit line. To recover the stolen cash, she filed a police report with her local precinct.
Sally told them everything that happened, but because it was clear that the check had been stolen from a mailbox, they said it wasn’t under their jurisdiction — and they had to fill out a report with the postal police instead. They filled out multiple reports with the postal police, but they never got back to us. Luckily, the bank accepted my screenshots of the report. As long as it was documented with legal authority, they felt it was fine. About a month later, the funds were restored to Sally’s bank account.
Sally and her husband are lucky, this scenario rarely ever works out for the victim without the guidance of a trained recovery advocate.
Stay safe, click carefully and watch for scams because a Stolen Check – Identity Theft incident is a horrible experience.
I had the pleasure of speaking with our partners at Tzedakah House on their podcast, Benefits & Beyond. In this podcast, I chat with Luke about identity theft protection and the services defend-id provides. I share my story as a victim of identity theft and the first-hand effects it can have on a person both emotionally, financially, and at the office.
Topics Luke and I cover:
What services does defend-ID offer? (credit checks, recovery, etc.)
How did you get started doing this? (backstory)
What kinds of plans are available? (gold vs. platinum)
How easy is ID theft to offer to employees? (size, participation, funding, etc.)
On my work laptop, I use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) whenever I work remotely including in my home, my hotel room, or any other location away from the office. (be sure to watch the video below)
Private WiFi is the flagship product of Private Communications Corporation, founded by Kent Lawson in 2010. After reading a series of articles in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and The New York Times about the security vulnerabilities of WiFi hotspots, Lawson (a 40 year computer industry executive) was inspired to come out of retirement and work to resolve the problem.
According to Lawson, “your private information is an easy target on a public WiFi network such as hotels, coffee shops, and airports that are not secure. Anyone using the same hotspot can intercept and hack your communications. Your usernames, passwords, and other private information can be stolen out of the thin air.”
“We created Private WiFi to protect your identity and personal information by encrypting your WiFi signal. Everything you do online is protected with bank-level security, so you can surf, share, shop, and bank with confidence.”
A way of life
Think about it, connecting to public WiFi hotspots has become a way of life. Millions of people connect to public WiFi every day without thinking – at coffee shops, hotels, restaurants, or airports. It’s fast, it’s free, and it’s convenient. But this convenience can come at a cost.
But it’s not secure. Everything transmitted on your laptop, smartphone, or tablet over WiFi hotspots can be grabbed out of thin air – and many users don’t understand hotspot security risks. Roughly 39% have accessed sensitive information while on WiFi hotspots, according to a Nielsen/Harris Poll. That means their privacy and security are in danger every time they connect.
According to Lawson, “Private WiFi encrypts Internet traffic and protects hotspot users from hackers and identity thieves, creating a secure tunnel that is invisible to hackers.”
“In a world full of wireless security risks, Private WiFi puts the power to protect hotspot users’ information in their own hands,” said Lawson.
The New York Times calls Private WiFi the “VPN for the masses.” PC Magazine featured Private WiFi as one of the “Ten VPN Services You Should Know About” and it has been featured on CNN, and Good Morning America among other news outlets.
VPNs are easier to use than ever. My recommendation is to use a VPN on all your devices to search, shop, bank, read, and connect. This will give you the confidence your personal privacy is secure. Think before you connect, don’t make it easy for the bad guys.
