In the ever-evolving age of technology, there is an increasing risk that your personal information could fall into the wrong hands. Make it your New Year’s resolution to safeguard your identity! Here are some tips to consider and some questions to ask yourself while using social media and other online sites.

Think

• Should I be sharing this information?
  • Yes, “too much information” is a thing. Remember to limit the amount of personal details you share online.
• Who can see this?
  • Check your share settings to ensure that what you post is not shared with the whole world. Be sure to limit sharing to your friends and remove strangers from your friends list.
• What can people do with this information? Can the information I’m sharing be used to access my accounts?
  • This includes email addresses, phone numbers, birthdate, and information that you use for security questions (favorite color, first car, etc.).

Check

• Your credit report for free.
  • You are entitled to one free credit report annually from each of the three major credit bureaus. Also, you can keep an eye out on your credit score via the Credit Score tool in Hickam FCU Online and Mobile Banking.
• For compromised passwords.
  • Use a trusted service (i.e. Google Password Checkup) to check if your password has been compromised. If so, change it immediately and check for suspicious activity. It is also generally good practice to change your passwords regularly and to use different passwords for different accounts.

Guard

• Consider using a password manager.
  • These services can help you generate unique, unguessable passwords and keep them safe. Some will even autofill them to save you the hassle of copying or typing it out.
• Do not share your account information over phone, email, and text.
  • Account numbers and sensitive information should only be shared through secured channels. Remember to never provide one-time passcodes to anyone asking for it over phone call, text, or email. When communicating sensitive information to Hickam FCU, please use our secured Messages tool in Online and Mobile Banking.