Protecting Your Finances

Tools and Tips to help you protect your finances and your information!

Protecting Your Finances

Security features on your network and devices are great, but it is important to do you part. Follow these best practices to protect your information and your finances. 
 

Best Practices

Summer is a season of travel, outdoor activities, and increased social gatherings. While it's a time for fun, it's also a period when personal belongings are at higher risk of damage, loss, or theft. From beach days to road trips, your valuables face unique threats that can turn a relaxing day into a stressful one. Here's how to keep your personal items safe throughout the summer months.

There tends to be a rise in theft from parked cars with the intent of stealing identification and then using that identification to quickly cash fraudulent checks and steal identities. 

With a few proactive steps, you can enjoy all that summer has to offer without worrying about your belongings. Whether you're heading to the mountains, beach, or exploring your own city, a little planning can go a long way in protecting your personal items from common seasonal hazards.
  • Keep items out of sight: Don’t leave valuables visible in parked cars or unattended areas.
  • Use hotel safes: Store passports, jewelry, and extra cash in provided safes when not in use.
  • Use cross-body or front-facing bags: These are harder for thieves to access unnoticed.
  • Limit what you carry: Bring only what you need—leave unnecessary cards and documents at home.
  • Be aware of your surroundings: Stay alert in crowds and avoid distractions.
As a reminder, UVACCU will never ask you for your personal information such as username, passwords, or authentication codes. 

Stay safe, travel smart, and enjoy the sunshine!

Secure Your Home Network with this advice from CISA: 

  • Ensure router name is not something that can be connected to your home address/name
  • Choose a strong password
  • Create a guest network for visitors
  • Update security software regularly
  • Remove unecessary services and software

Secure Mobile Devices

  • Enable "find my" services so you can track devices and clear data if lost or stolen
  • Be selective when installing apps and visiting sites
  • Disable Wi-Fi and Bluetooth when not in use

Protect your accounts by utilizing security features and shopping safely online and in-person. 

  • Only do business with reputable vendors and sites you trust
    • Check site reviews with Google, Sitejabber, or Trustpilot
    • Look for the https in the URL
  • Pay with your phone: tools like Apple Pay can make paying safer since the merchant does not collect your card numbers
  • Create transaction alerts to recieve updates on all purchase activities
  • Be aware of your surroundings when paying
  • Learn how to spot skimmers at point of sale terminals, ATMs or gas pumps

Follow these best practices to create a strong password that is easy to remember but hard to crack.

  • Use at least 16 characters when possible
  • Make sure you have a mix of upper/lower case letters, symbols, and numbers
    • Try consistently replacing common letters/numbers with characters. For example you could use always use an uppercase W and replace the letter a with the % symbol.
  • Consider using a password manager 
  • Create differnet passwords for different accounts and update frequently
  • Avoid using pet names, kids names or other information that is easily available online
  • Do not share your passwords

Phishing messages "lure" you by creating false and urgent scenarios that direct you to click a link, open an attachment, provide personal information, or call a number. Be cautious with all unsolicited emails, texts, and calls, especially those that:

  • Ask you to "verify" or "decline" pending transactions
  • Urge you to click a link to view important information
  • Need you to provide personal infromation, passwords, or account numbers
  • Contain poor spelling or grammar (Note: AI is helping cybercriminals create better phishing messages so this may not be the case) 

A good rule of thumb is to confirm messages with the sender by reaching out to them using the contact information from their website, or another verified source. Do not respond directly to the message!