Protect Your Bubble Celebrates National Cyber Security Awareness Month and Helps Protect Children’s Identity
Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) October 25, 2013 -- The Department of Homeland Security is celebrating its 10th anniversary of National Cyber Security Awareness month this October as a part of its mission to "create a safe secure and resilient cyber environment".
In a time of rampant scams and identify theft, cyber safety awareness couldn't be more important. Parents must know, children are becoming an increasing target for identity thieves. The identity theft of minors usually revolves around the misuse of Social Security Numbers. Children have a clean (if nonexistent) credit record, and ID crimes against them can go unnoticed and unreported for many years.
Many people today enthusiastically dedicate a large part of their life to online activities. With Internet access, we connect with people on social media sites, post family photos, share personal updates or make online purchases. However, with this potential comes a certain set of dangers.
When someone posts pictures or their current location they are steadily sharing sensitive information about their life, and in turn, their child’s life, that could be damaging if accessed by the wrong person. According to a 2012 report from Carnegie Mellon CyLab, children are targeted 35 times for identity theft more than adults, and 15 percent of the victims are under the age of five. So, it’s vital that parents know their risks and how to keep their child’s information secure online. Here are some tips to raise awareness:
• Exclude important personal information from social media profiles. Details like phone number, address, children’s age or school can all present ways for hackers to glean more knowledge. In addition, be sure to protect your passwords on all social media sites.
• Check social media privacy settings. Change all Facebook settings to "Friends Only" for all posts for a more secure profile. Facebook often makes changes to these settings and can even reset your secure settings.
• Watch phone’s privacy settings. Turning GPS location settings to "off" can also keep whereabouts more private.
• Monitor the mail. Be on alert to anything suspicious your child receives in the mail, like pre-approved credit cards and other financial offers normally sent to adults, in his or her own name. Also be aware if a collection agency calls or sends letters about accounts not associated with family members.
To try a realistic simulation of what it could look like if a hacker got access to your Facebook account, visit http://www.protectyourprofile.org or watch a video of an actual simulation on YouTube. For more information about identity theft protection, visit http://www.protectyourbubble.com.
Public Relations, Protect Your Bubble, http://us.protectyourbubble.com, +1 (770) 763-1646, [email protected]
Share this article