Five Ways to Keep Scammers and Hackers Away

The things people do on their phones and computers, internet-enabled smart devices, and on websites leave a trail of people’s activities and personal information.

That personal information has value —not just to individuals, but to scammers and hackers who want to steal people’s identities.

Here are five things people can do to keep scammers and hackers at bay.

1. Secure your accounts so they’re hard to crack. Use a strong password. And enable two-factor authentication (2FA) on sensitive accounts like email or financial accounts. 2FA adds an extra layer of security by requiring a second form of verification.

2. Keep your security software, operating system and internet browsers and apps up to date to defend against the latest threats.

3. Your wireless network is the gateway to all the Wi-Fi enabled devices in your home. To protect your connected devices, replace the default Wi-Fi network password and router admin password with a strong password.

4. Set your computer and phone to lock when you’re not using them to prevent unauthorized access to your computer if you step away or to your phone if you lose it.

5. Create a backup copy of your information. That way you can recover it if your device gets infected, hacked, stolen, or lost. Back up your data to the cloud or an external drive.

Report scammers and hackers at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. If someone stole your personal information, report it and get recovery steps at IdentityTheft.gov.

—Federal Trade Commission