Fraud

Maintain strong passwords.

Strong passwords make it extremely difficult to break into your accounts. Here are some tips to help:

• Avoid using words that are easily guessed, such as your child's name or your favorite sports team.
• Use the greatest combination of capital and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols that a site will allow.
• Password managers are a great way to not only create strong, unique passwords - but they also store them securely so you don't need to remember them.

Check the site.

If you are banking or shopping online, check that the site you are using is security-enabled. Look for sites that start with "https://", which means that the site is taking extra precautions to help secure your information.

Connect carefully.

If you're at home, make sure your Wi-Fi network is password-protected so that outsiders cannot log onto your network and gather information. If you're in a public place that offers Wi-Fi access, be cautious of what you send over their network. Try to refrain from banking or other sensitive activities until you're in a more secure location.

Keep it current.

New computer viruses (and new versions of old ones) are being released all the time. So making sure you have the latest security software, web browser, and operating system updates are your best defenses against these threats. Often, you can set those updates to be automatically installed as soon as they become available.