It’s up to you to keep your valuable personal information safe. Here are some tools and tips courtesy of USAA to help you defend against cyber criminals.

Protect Your Information
Protecting your personal information is a shared responsibility. You do your part when you:

• Make sure it’s the real business: Fraudsters pose as credible companies “phishing” for your information. A company you do business with will never call you and ask for your logon information (or your PIN, one-time code, password or social security number).
• Report suspicious texts and emails: Using email and text, fraudsters impersonate companies to get consumers to click links and provide personal information. Report suspicious emails or texts to the real company.
• Don’t let scams ruin the holidays: Don’t fall for holiday scams luring you into making extra money or deals that seem too good to be true. Avoid work-at-home scams.

Security Best Practices
Here are some practices you can adopt to help protect yourself:

• Layer your protection: A password is the first line of defense against cyber criminals. Use a multi-factor authentication (MFA) for an added layer of protection for your account that can reduce the risk of fraud. With MFA, you simply identify yourself with a combination of characteristics that are unique to you when accessing your account online, over the phone or when using a mobile app.

  MFA is a personalized combination of:
  Something you know (like your PIN).
  Something you have (like a one-time code available through a mobile app, text message or email).
  Something you are (your fingerprint, face or voice recognition; also known as biometrics).

• Equip yourself: Monitor your accounts regularly, respond to fraud alerts and report unauthorized transactions promptly.
• Stay alert for phishing attempts: Email fraud spikes during the holidays. Make sure it is a real message from the company before you act upon any actions in the email.