Cyber Spring Cleaning - how you can protect your data and information on your devices
It finally feels like spring so that means it's time to get cleaning, but drop the mop, we're talking about cyber clutter.
With spring here, it's a good time to clean your digital life.
"It's definitely a good time of year because when people think of spring cleaning, they typically look at purging their physical clutter," said Caitlin Driscoll of the Better Business Bureau. "It's also really important, we all have digital data clutter that lives on our electronic devices."
We all understand and sometimes feel the itch for spring cleaning, from purging the junk drawer to organizing the closet, but what about cleaning up your cyber clutter?
We often only get our digital devices in order when we need a new one, but experts said getting this all in order reduces the risk of a hacker gaining access to your old information.
Just like your countertops and closets, your devices get cluttered, too.
"Just really simple, proactive steps can help to prevent and safeguard against things like identity theft, certainly experiencing financial loss associated with some of these scams, and even potential data breaches that can happen outside of our control," Driscoll said.
She said the first step is simple: lock down your login.
"Consider upgrading your passwords or even pass phrases for each of your accounts," she explained. "Regardless, ensure your passwords or your pass phrases are lengthy, that they are unique to each account, and that they're safely stored. You also really want to enable two-factor or multi-factor authentication on all accounts that offer it."
She said we should all change our passwords every three months and use a password manager.
Tip two is to purge old digital files.
"This really helps to reduce the risk that a hacker could access old information that you've completely forgotten about," Driscoll said. "It's also a good thing to check AnnualCreditReport.com to check to make sure that nobody has opened any instances of credit accounts without your knowledge."
Tip number three, review your online accounts - do you really use all of those apps?
"Take a look at your social media accounts or really any of your apps and accounts in general, and just review those settings periodically because they can and do change some of the options that are available," she explained.
Finally, tip four: refresh your online presence. Do you need to cut some digital friends?
"Does everybody actually still belong there, and are your privacy settings appropriate for those specific contacts, even doing things like actively managing location services?"
You also should check your Bluetooth, microphone, and camera settings, and the ability for different apps to track you.
Lastly, back up all of your devices and make sure you have a digital copy of anything before it's too late.
