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Back To School Safety Tips

Back To School Safety Tips

The start of a new school year is a time when parents (and students) have a lot going on. Open houses, school clothes shopping, along with lots of forms to fill out. This is a time when your children’s personal information is most easily accessed by criminals. In order to protect your children’s identities, use these back to school safety tips. Worldwide, over one million children were the victims of identity theft in 2017. Two-thirds of those children were below the age of 8.

Tips For Protecting Your Children’s Information

  • Understand FERPA – FERPA stands for the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act. According to the US Department of Education, FERPA “is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education.” This act allows parents to view their student’s records at any time and also request a revision of any inaccuracies that may be found. Parents also can request that personal information not be disclosed in a directory by the school.
  • Use A Shredder – Any documentation with personal information that will not be saved should be shredded. Obtaining information via garbage is one of the most frequent ways that criminals steal personal information.
  • Protect Your Children’s Social Security Number – Always store your child’s Social Security card in a safe place. Never carry Social Security cards with you unless you know you will need it that day. If you are asked to show a child’s Social Security card, make sure the requesting party is legitimate and use an alternate form of identification if possible.

Children are some of the most vulnerable individuals in terms of identity theft. As a parent, it is your job to safeguard their information. Should their information fall into the wrong hands, it can be an extreme issue later in their lives. Use our back to school safety tips to ensure this doesn’t happen.

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How Do I Remember All My Passwords?

How do I remember all my passwords?

At some point in our internet lives we’ve all had a go-to password. It’s possible you’ve used (or use) this password on pretty much every site you need to login to. Why do we only use one password (or a small number of passwords)? The answer is because it’s easy to remember and most likely something you can enter quickly and easily. More and more of our personal information is being entered into websites. Your passwords are the keys that unlock a wealth of information that can be used to steal your identity if it falls into the wrong hands. You should have a strong, unique password for each site you log into. Yes, for each one. So, how do I remember all my passwords?

Tips For Passwords & Password Storage

  • Create a strong, unique password for every site you log into. A strong password is at least 12 characters long. Use a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and special characters ($, %, #, etc).
  • Never use any personal information as a part of your password. This includes names, birthdates, pet names, street numbers, etc. Ask yourself this question: Can a clue to any portion of my password be found on my Facebook page? The answer should be “no”.
  • Your password should be difficult to enter (and remember). This means that you most likely have a strong password that will be difficult to crack.
  • Use a password manager to store your passwords. A password manager will encrypt your passwords so that only authorized users with access can view them. Your passwords will be stored in a cloud so that you can access them on any device (PC, smart phone, tablet).
  • A password manager should also be able to create strong passwords for you. These will be stored for easy access. You copy and paste the password into the website you need to log into.
  • Never store passwords in your web browser (Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, etc.). If your browser asks if you’d like to store or save the password, always say no.

Your information is important. You wouldn’t want a random person walking into your home and rummaging through your stuff. Using sub-par passwords is like leaving your front door wide open. How do I remember all my passwords? Follow the steps above and your information will be safe and secure.