Information Security: How We Are Protecting Our Clients

If you paid any attention to the news in the last year, chances are you heard a headline or two about security breaches. Most notably, the Target Corporation cyber-security breach dominated the news for weeks, disrupted the company’s business during the most critical holiday shopping days of the year, and created headaches for millions of consumers and thousands of Target employees alike.

It’s no secret that as our world continues to change, the threats we face as consumers and businesses continue to change as well. Years ago, a strong door that locked was considered a basic, yet sound theft-deterrent to someone breaking into a home or business. Today, locking one’s email account, bank account, computer, smart phone, or tablet with a strong password is now the first basic step towards securing one’s information from a cyber break-in.

At All Star Financial, we want you to know that we are serious about protecting your information and that client security is woven into the fabric of how we operate, whether online or in person. Through self-evaluation, careful study of best practices within our industry, and common sense, we will continue to stress the importance of protecting your data. In fact, just this morning, we began our day with a presentation on cyber-security and how we can continue to improve to keep your security top of mind!

So, All Star Financial is doing our part to keep your information safe, but it’s not just up to us! Are you taking the proper measures to protect your information?Take some time today to do your own cyber-security self-assessment. To get you started, we have listed a few of the basics below:

1. Strong Passwords: Are the password you use for your various online accounts very strong? If you utilize any of the “25 worst passwords” found in the following article, we suggest you change your password immediately! Click here to read!

2. Be a Skeptic: If you get an email from someoneyou don’t know, be skeptical – don’t open it. If you accidentally opened it, do not click on any links contained in the email. Phony links in an email are part of what cyber-criminals use in “Phishing” scams. Phishing scams attempt to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details (and sometimes, indirectly, money) by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.

3. When in doubt, check it out: If you receive an email from a trusted source, such as All Star Financial, but something just doesn’t seem right, a quick phone call to our office is an easy way to double check and ensure that the email actually came from us; and don’t be surprised if we do the same when we receive communications from our clients!