7 Ways You Can Protect Yourself Against Cyber-Attacks and Debit Card Hacks This Holiday Season

It's the day before Christmas--arguably one of the most, if not the most, intense shopping days of the entire year. Gone are the days, however, when you could walk into a store, buy something with cash, and those behind the counter know next to nothing about your personal information. Now, with the advance of credit and debit cards, the means of transaction are highly sophisticated memory devices that hold more personal information than we would ever be comfortable with divulging under any other circumstance. These technological advancements in credit and debit cards are a playground for hackers, thieves, and opportunists. And the holidays are a heightened time of breaches of personal identity and security.  Here are some tips to keep your personal information safe this holiday.

Having a pocket-full of ever-updated strategies to protect yourself from cybercrime is a must.
Here’s a simple list of ways to protect yourself from cyber attack:

1. Review your credit card statements one day per week. Make sure you recognize each of your purchases and notify your credit card company if you see a possible breach.

2. Sign up for real-time alerts with your financial institution. You can easily set a purchase limit on your debit or credit cards, and choose to receive a real-time notification should there be a purchase attempt beyond that limit.

3. Keep your private information private. Your personal data is perpetually threatened, whether its your cell phone or laptop, your wallet, or your PC and home phone. When you’re using new websites for purchases, always make sure this is a closed lock symbol at the bottom right of the screen. Web addresses that begin with “https” are generally secure, and if you click on the lock symbol on the bottom right, it will display the same “https” address.

4. Create strong passwords and change them regularly. Studies have shown that 50% of internet users have weak passwords. If you use birthdates or social insurance numbers as your password and that information is taken through cyber-theft, all of your personal data suddenly becomes vulnerable. The best way is to use random letters and numbers that have no personal connection to you or your family.

5. Consider subscribing to identity protection. There are many identity protection companies that will monitor your credit cards, social insurance number and other data for a fee. If you minimize your risks of security breach, this is one way of doing it.

6. Have your bank disable the 'wifi' function on your debit card: Check on the corner of your debit card. If it has a wifi symbol, it means you can simply tap your card at supporting check-out counters of stores and pay for your items without having to key in your password. These cards hold information that, by virtue of being wireless, can be easily hacked and stolen by surrounding thieves with the right technology. Your bank can disable this feature, thus preventing it from being hacked into while simply carried in your wallet.

7. Cash is still king. This is one of the best ways to avoid such security breaches. In fact, becoming less digital may be, overall, something to give further consideration to.
As we’ve seen, there are security risks everywhere, with one of the prime targets being retail outlets the hackers of which take advantage of such outlets’ connections to financial institutions. Such precautions as those listed above will help you.