Fraudsters are Everywhere and You need to Be Viligant

There are a number of steps you can do to improve your online and phone protection to avoid becoming a victim. Security Hygiene is a new term to improve your posture.

Let's categorize the areas that you can be attacked from.

Phones -

Mobile phones do not have Caller ID. You can create a directory of contacts that will help. This does not address the fact Numbers can be Spoofed. The FCC's and CRTC will require larger Telecom providers implement a concept call STIR-SHAKEN which is a suite of protocols and procedures intended to combat caller ID spoofing on public telephone networks. Caller ID spoofing is used by robocallers to mask their identity or to make it appear the call is from a legitimate source, is a suite of protocols and procedures intended to combat caller ID spoofing on public telephone networks. Caller ID spoofing is used by robocallers to mask their identity or to make it appear the call is from a legitimate source.

The best Practice is DO NOT ANSWER a CALL that you DON'T know. Let it go to voicemail.

Landlines

Social Engineering - The more information you publish about yourself, makes it easier for imposters to take over your accounts including Email, Banking and Other Accounts.

Critical Accounts -You must use Multifactor Authentication.

Trusted devices

Storing personal information challenge questions

Take a screen shot and store in an encrypted File

Password managers

Unique Passwords and User IDs

Ransomware

File backups Air Gapped and multiple copies

On line services such as DropBox, OneDrive