Protect Your Most Sensitive Data – And How to Do It

The Data You Need To Protect The Most

(And How To Do It)

What to Guard: Your Digital Assets

Understand the key types of data that criminals target, and why they matter.

(Click cards to expand)

Personal Info (PII)

What: Names, addresses, ID numbers – anything that identifies you.

How: Limit what you share, use privacy settings, guard personal documents.

Financial Data

What: Credit card and bank account numbers, financial records.

How: Use secure (HTTPS🔒) sites/apps, never email banking details, monitor accounts.

Login Credentials

What: Passwords, PINs, authentication codes for accounts.

How: Enable 2FA, use strong unique passwords, use a secure password manager.

Health Records

What: Medical history, prescriptions, insurance info – highly sensitive.

How: Keep private, share via trusted channels only, use secure patient portals or encrypted files.

Your Job’s Intellectual Property

What: Trade secrets, designs, client lists, strategy docs.

How: Limit access, encrypt files, label as confidential, use NDAs.

Employee Information

What: Social Security numbers, salaries, contact & HR records.

How: Encrypt storage, restrict access, train HR, secure document disposal.

Phish of the Week

Here’s a convincing text message that scared a lot of people.

It uses one of the newest techniques to scam victims:
a simple instruction to respond with a “Y.”

Move the red slider bar from left to right,
and you’ll see clues showing this urgent message is a fake.

June 15 phish of the week left

June 15 phish of the week right b

Before

After

Don’t even return the text. Delete the message.

Cybersecurity News You Can Use

A new report analyzing 29 million four-digit PIN codes finds that more than one in four of us use dangerously predictable password combinations like 1234, 0000, or birth years including 1984 and 2004.

These PINs are so widely used that a criminal has a 15% chance of guessing them with only a few attempts.

Avoid these codes, as well: 8068, 6835, 7637, 8093, and 9629. Forbes says a study once promoted them as the safest PIN codes because they’re so random, but then many people began using them.

To stay secure, avoid repeating numbers, patterns, or personal dates like the year you were born. Instead, use random, non-sequential PINs that are unrelated to your life.

New research from MediaPost shows social media is now the second most common way Americans get their news, with 1 in 5 adults turning to platforms like X, Facebook, or TikTok instead of traditional outlets like local TV stations.

Yet most social media news content is posted by influencers, bots, or AI tools, often without fact-checking.

While only 31% of Americans say they trust news they see on social media, many still rely on it for news. That makes watching for signs of misinformation, such as missing sources, emotionally charged language, or unverifiable claims essential.

Three ways to do that:

Check the source: Look for a verified account, a reputable news outlet, or links to original reporting. Be skeptical of anonymous posts or unfamiliar usernames.
Watch for emotional manipulation: Posts that try to outrage, scare, or flatter you often use misleading or exaggerated claims to boost the number of views.
And verify before you share: Cross-check key facts with a trusted news site or fact-checking resource like Snopes, PolitiFact, or Reuters Fact Check.

Google is rolling out a new Chrome feature where its Password Manager automatically updates a password that’s been leaked to scammers with just a click.

Until now, when Google alerted users about data breaches, they had to manually change passwords for each account.

Engadget reports that the new Automated Password Change feature is currently only available on participating websites, but Google plans a major rollout before the end of the year.

These organizations say they have been hacked recently. If you do business with any of these companies, change your account password and use two-factor authentication wherever possible.

Get smarter!

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One more thing...

Answers to Your
Cybersecurity Questions

“Is it safe to send personal and sensitive information via text or email, like a picture of a driver’s license, birth certificate, or social security card?”

Sending sensitive information by text or email can be risky unless you take extra precautions. The University of Maryland advises that texting is relatively safe only when both parties use encrypted apps like WhatsApp, Signal, or iMessage, but it’s less secure on platforms like Facebook Messenger.

For email, Gmail offers a Confidential Mode: after composing your message, click the lock-and-clock icon at the bottom and follow the prompts. In Outlook, click “Options” in the toolbar, then choose “Encrypt” or “Permissions” (depending on the version you use) to protect your message.

Apple Mail also supports encrypted email, but it requires a more complex setup using digital certificates.

An easier option: save your sensitive image as a PDF, and during the save process, encrypt it with a password. The recipient will need that password to open the file, adding an extra layer of protection.

“I hear that Yahoo email is out of date. Is it safe to use or not?”

Yahoo Mail is fine for everyday use, but not ideal for sensitive communication. (See the story above.)

Yahoo suffered several major data breaches in the past. While it’s improved since then, TechRadar says it still lacks end-to-end encryption and advanced protections offered by other providers.

As for Yahoo’s ranking among the U.S.’s top websites: it’s still way up there.

“I saw on Instagram a clip about how card readers can pick up the signal of a credit card in your wallet and charge you for someone else’s purchase. Is this true?”

Reports of people being charged just by standing near a checkout terminal are largely exaggerated. RFID-enabled cards, which allow contactless payments, must be held within 1–2 inches of a payment terminal—and only after the cashier activates the transaction.

The real risk is card skimming, where a criminal places a fake reader over a legitimate one to steal your card data. This scam is most common at gas pumps and outdoor ATMs. If a card reader feels loose or unusual when you jiggle it, that’s often a sign something’s wrong.

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