Spending The Holidays Online Safely

Dec 18, 2020, 3:38 PM

Christmas, Hanukkah, and other holidays are a time for many to gather with family (this year, over the internet) and enjoy the spirit of the season. New Year’s Eve is a time to watch the ball drop and maybe have a party (again, this year’s celebration will be virtual). The days between December 25 and January 1? You might be headed back to work, or you might have those days off… and you might be spending a lot of hours online.

Phishing

That makes this a great time to review some basic internet safety precautions. Let’s start with phishing, a topic many businesses pay close attention to, including us here at Hastings Mutual. Phishing is a tactic used by hackers to collect personal information by sending what looks like legitimate email but is instead a way to collect other email addresses, financial information, and passwords. There are often little details in a phishing email you can look for that give it away. Things like:

• An email you were not expecting
• Names or email addresses you don’t recognize in the “From” or “To” sections
• Links in the body of an email that go to a website that isn’t one you recognize
• An email message asking you for personal information (like a Social Security number) or for you to send money
• Attachments you’re supposed to open or download that have nothing to do with the email message

Check your password

A recent report on the most common passwords reveals that easy-to-remember passwords are also the easiest to hack. Here’s the top 25 most often used passwords from this year — if you’re using any of these, change them as soon as you can!

123456	123456789	Picture1
password	12345678	111111
123123	12345	1234567890
senha	1234567	qwerty
abc123	Million2	000000
1234	iloveyou	aaron431
password1	qqww1122	123
omgpop	123321	654321
qwertyuiop

“Senha” is the Portuguese word for “password.” Easy-to-guess passwords are a concern in every language. Also take a look at these tips from our cyber security partners. 

It’s recommended that your passwords are at least 15 characters (letters, numbers, and symbols) long, especially for private information like bank accounts.

Keep an eye on your kids

Your children likely have more days off this holiday season than you do. And they’ll probably be spending those days off reading, playing games, and watching videos — all online.

Many quality websites are available for children for education and games. Your local school or library probably has suggestions for sites that are safe from would-be thieves or attackers. At the same time, extremely popular video games, like so many other sites, often save financial information used to pay for subscriptions to the game or purchases of items in the game. That puts your data at risk, just as if the game was a shopping website exposed to hackers.

The guidelines that apply to websites you visit are true for the websites your children use, too. You might use a computer for email, business, games, or all of those. Paying attention to phishing and using secure passwords will help you stay safe online.

Questions? Let us know in the comments. 

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