Brava

January 2012

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Advertisement Cyber Safety: Ways to Protect Yourself From Identity Theft By Madison Police Department Technology Committee Defend your computer against Internet threats: Help protect your online trans- actions by using fi rewall, antivirus and antispyware software. Encrypt your wire- less connection at home. Keep all software (including your web browser) current with automatic updates. Create strong passwords: Choose pass- words that are easy for you to remember, at least 14 characters long and include num- bers, symbols, and upper and lower case letters. Never share them in email, instant messages or over the phone. And avoid using the same password for everything. Find the web address yourself: Links in email messages, text messages, instant messages, or pop-up ads can take you to websites that look legitimate but are not. Look for signs that your information is safe: Before you enter sensitive data on a web page, ensure that the site uses encryp- tion, a security measure that helps protect your data as it travels the Internet. Signs of encryption include a web address with https ("s" stands for secure) and a closed padlock beside it or in the lower right cor- ner of the page. Save fi nancial transactions for your home computer: Never pay bills, bank, shop or do other fi nancial business on a public or shared computer or on devices such as a laptop or mobile phones that are on public wireless networks. Th e security is unreliable. Use common sense: To protect yourself against fraud, watch out for scams. For example, be wary of deals that sound too good to be true, alerts from your "bank" that your account will be closed unless you take some immediate action, notices that you have won a lottery, or a refusal to meet in person for a local transaction. Whether sent by computer or phone, this kind of message is designed to entice you to visit a phony website where criminals collect your fi nancial data. SAVE MORE, GET MORE WITH THE CHARTER BUNDLE® Charter Internet® Charter TV® Charter Phone® 1-888-GET-CHARTER | charter.com January 2012 This cyber safety message is brought to you by Charter bravamagazine.com 21

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