Monday, December 7, 2015

Keeping Finances Secure Online



                It is that time once again to start submitting financial aid and online shopping for the holiday season. There are some benefits to doing everything online vs. in person, but there are also negatives.
                Doing things online is much more convenient, faster and easier. Just because it is faster and convenient is it really worth the possible threat of getting hacked or our identity stolen? Most people would say yes it is worth the risk because having our identity stole or being hacked does not happen often. That is not true every year more than 9 million Americans get their identity stolen.
This does not have to be the case though; there are steps that each individual person can take to protect themselves. Some of these steps are using familiar websites, looking for the lock in the website address bar or simply not telling all your personal information. The two links below contain information to protect one from the dangers of online shopping.
                However with financial aid and online banking most of the steps above cannot be followed because they do not apply. With banking and applying for financial aid personal information must be given out to get approved, so how do you keep yourself safe?
                According to US news there are some steps to take when considering online banking or online submission for financial aid.  US news says “trust your gut”, “think or a new word” meaning changing your password often for personal accounts.
Just remember play it safe and trust your gut, if a website does not look accurate and real then most likely it is a scam.

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