How to protect your personal information, keep hackers out of your bank account

PITTSBURGH — Thousands of companies have been hacked by cybercriminals this year.

Scammers have racked up one billion stolen records. Yours could be among them, and you wouldn’t know until it’s too late.

Experts say it has been happening over and over. Since COVID, the number of security breaches and hacks has been going up---30 percent this year alone.

“It’s an arms race. The attackers are just getting more sophisticated,” said Lorrie Cranor, Director of Carnegie Mellon University’s CyLab, the Security and Privacy Institute.

Inside CyLab, more than 150 researchers spend their days countering what criminals treat as a full-time job.

“Attackers are just spending all their time trying to come up with better attacks,” Cranor said. “The scammers are looking for either your money or credentials that they can use to help them get other people’s money.”

Leo Scott is a CMU graduate, and Chief Innovation Officer of DataTribe, a company that supports internet startups.

Scott advises consumers to practice what he calls good cyber-hygiene, starting with your computer password.

“You generally want to use different passwords on different accounts so that if you have a breach in one account, then they can’t get into the other accounts,” said Scott.

The challenge? The average consumer has 100 online accounts. That’s a lot to remember, but Scott says it’s critical to keep passwords protected. He recommends a password manager, an app on your computer that stores passwords. Some of the managers enter passwords automatically.

“If it’s long and complicated, then it’s a lot harder for them to figure out what your password is,” said Scott.

At CyLab, Lorrie Cranor has a tried-and-true method for password protection. CyLab has done extensive password research, and Cranor says some of the recommendations they have for companies about how to have strong password systems have been adopted by the U.S. government.

Cranor says you can think of a phrase that is special to you that no one else would know. Take the first two letters of each word, insert a digit or two in the middle.

“And that can be a pretty strong password, too,” she said.

Both experts say you can also protect your information by setting up alerts with your bank and credit card companies. Every time a purchase is made you’ll get a notification.

Also, it’s important to enable two-factor authentication. It’s a one time code or password that you receive by text, and type in for access.

Security steps that go a long way---but aren’t fail-safe.

“Cybersecurity is not a solved problem. It keeps us employed, but it also keeps us up at night,” said Cranor.

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