Still using a pen and paper to work out your budget? Sheesh, you’re so two-thousand-and-late. 😒
Actually, we kid. In today’s world of virtual insanity, hackers are everywhere, so way to kick it old school. 🤙👴🏻 Cyber crooks are especially hungry for your precious financial information, and it’s a nightmare when they get a hold of it. 🥴
The good news is you can still use finance apps as long as you dig into those digital street smarts! 🤠
Here’s Five Fast Facts on finance apps and hackers:
- 🤳 Pass It On - If you think your data’s safe with a finance app, think again. According to a recent study on today’s most popular finance apps, roughly 3 in 4 share at least some information with third parties (think: advertisers), like names, email addresses, and phone numbers. On average, the apps shared six types of data, sometimes more.
- 🧑💻 Life’s a Breach - Hackers love financial apps because they have so much sensitive information. Every time an app shares your data with a third party, your data gets spread even more around the internet. The more places your info winds up, the more chances you have of getting caught up in a breach. Once hackers have your data, they can use it to steal your money or even your identity.
- 🌟 Reputation Check - Avoid getting hacked by doing your research on an app up front. Make sure the app has a solid professional reputation and is backed by a credible institution. For example, your bank’s official mobile app is way safer than a random budgeting app from the Apple Store. The safest apps use end-to-end encryption, so look for that in the description.
- 🤐 Password on the Street - Still using that same password you’ve had since 2003 for all of your accounts? We’re gonna send Will Smith over to slap you! Use a different password for each account and make sure they’re extra-strong. Don’t want to remember them all? Use a password manager to do that work for you. Oh, and always enable two-factor authentication on your finance apps for an extra layer of log in protection.
- ✅ Cyber Smarts - More tips: always update your software on both your phone and computer. Having the latest security updates helps keep you safe from hackers. While you’re out and about, don’t connect to public WiFi networks and keep your privacy settings high.
🔥Bottom line: Wondering if your information’s ever been stolen in a data breach? Check out the free website Have I Been Pwned to do a quick search. If your name is on that list, change those passwords right away and consider signing up for credit monitoring services…just to be on the safe side!
Have you ever been hacked?
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