In this day and age, we have all evolved from technology enthusiasts to social connectors. We’ve become immersed in a culture that boasts a sophisticated digital lifestyle. Speed, ease, and efficiency drive every single purchase we make.
This post is written in collaboration with Allstate, however, all opinions are mine alone.
The truth is; however, the more connected our families become, the more insecure we start to feel about digital safety and how to protect ourselves from hardship.
Good news. It doesn’t have to be scary or complicated to work on our family’s digital safety. A few simple steps can be taken to ensure that everything runs smoothly, efficiently and safely at the same time.
SOCIAL SHARING
Connecting through social media is an exciting way of life for many. Just make sure that you aren’t oversharing. There are a few steps that you can take to make sure that you are making the right digital safety choices.
Avoid Being Too Personal
- Think twice before you post anything too revealing. Strict privacy settings don’t protect you from screenshots. If you wouldn’t want your boss, kids or mom to see it, keep it to yourself.
- Don’t share things like your personal email address or full birth date as these can all be used to reset passwords.
- Make sure that your social privacy settings are up to date every few months. Sometimes, when social sites update their terms of service, it reconfigures your settings so be sure to stay on top of it.
- Avoid posting while on vacation. Instead, save the social shares until you get back. The world doesn’t need to know that you aren’t home.
ONLINE SHOPPING
Online shopping can save the day no matter what your predicament. Just make sure your digital footprint is kept safe while pursuing those cute pumps.
Protect Your Cart
- Try to shop from the comfort of your own home using your secured Wi-Fi connection. Credit cards and passwords can be less secure when using free connections at your local coffee shop.
- Make sure a trusted security organization verifies the website you are doing your shopping through.
- While it may save time to keep your account logins saved on your computer, it is a good idea to avoid doing this. Saved passwords and logins are only an open door for someone else to use your accounts.
- Don’t sign into retail sites using your social accounts. Your social platform may have different confidentiality rules than the website you are shopping from and can use this information in marketing campaigns.
PHISHING E-MAILS
The chances are that email you got from a prince isn’t a happy ending. These emails are called phishing emails, and these people are attempting to scam you into giving them your information. Sometimes phishers will pose as a legitimate company as well. While this can seem daunting, it doesn’t have to be. The best thing you can do in this situation is to verify emails with the company itself and realize that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Pay Attention
- Pay close attention to subject lines of emails. Often urgent requests from what appears to be a large-scale company are scams.
- Email addresses are also essential to scrutinize. Many fake emails may appear to be customer service from a company that you do business with, but the email address is not associated with the company or has spelling errors in it.
- Typos, grammatical errors and blurry images are all signs of fraud.
- If you are in doubt always contact the company that has seemingly sent the email. Just make sure to get the phone number from a reputable source and never click on links in the emails.
Taking care of your family’s digital safety doesn’t have to be daunting or scary! Social Media, online shopping, and emails are all relatively safe if used correctly. All you have to do is make sure that you take the appropriate steps, pay attention and avoid being too personal.
This post was written as part of the Allstate Influencer Program and sponsored by Allstate. All opinions are mine. As the nation’s largest publicly held personal lines insurer, Allstate is dedicated not only to protecting what matters most–but to guiding people to live the Good Life, every day.
