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By Jeff Wilkinson, President
Sun City Summerlin Computer Club

We should all be cautious answering those seem- tunately, identity theft is evolving, with thieves using
ingly innocuous questions posted on social media the latest technology to move from credit card coun-
sites such as “What Year Did You Graduate High terfeiting to checking and savings account takeover.
School,” or “What City were you Born in,” “Can you A May 2020 study by Javelin Strategy and Research
remember your childhood phone number?” or “Who found account takeovers — identity theft where a
was your first- criminal gains unauthorized access to an online ac-
grade teacher?” count belonging to somebody else — are trending at
and on and on. the high loss rate, up a staggering 72 percent over
These interesting the prior year.
questions appear
harmless and ap- Remember that when you first create a social media
pealing as you account, you provide personal information such as
develop friend- name, age, email address, etc. And I venture to
ships and remi- guess that most of us have never read the small print
nisce with old and terms of service provided by the host. As you trav-
new friends on erse the various pages, forums, postings, etc., data
social media, but mining creates a profile of your behavior, likes, and
beware! Many of these answers can be used to an- dislikes. This information is often monetized by the
swer or reveal security question answers you chose host sites you visit, meaning sold to third parties. Fa-
when you set up accounts at your bank, utility com- cebook collects data from all devices you have in-
pany, etc. For example, when you forget your pass- stalled their app on. The language used and time
word, as happens all too often, you will be asked to zone can include your device location, data provider,
answer security questions from when you initially set or internet service provider. Data on sites you like or
up your account, in most cases some time ago! In visit via a link on Facebook is also collected.
addition, answers to these types of questions posted
on social media or quizzes can be used to build a What can the consumer do to protect themselves?
profile on you with the information needed to open a
new account! • Keep your software up to date
• Log out of social media sites when finished, par-
Keeping your identity secure on social media is es- ticularly when in a public location or using a public
sential to your financial and personal safety. Unfor- (Continued on page 15)

Cyber Awareness Bulletin 14 October 2021