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Megan Marquardt, Cfp\u00ae, Ctfa President \u2013 Fort Myers. -COURTESY PHOTO<\/p>\n
At this time of year, when so many of us have house guests, are shopping for the holidays and celebrating the New Year, bad actors are watching for opportunities to take advantage.\n<\/p>\n
At Florida Trust Wealth Management, we regularly train on the topic of cybersecurity to stay current on the most frequent or escalating trends in cyber scams and how to deal with them for the benefit of our clients and company.\u00a0 Too often, we hear of friends, family members or neighbors who have been through the frustrating experience of cybercrime.\n<\/p>\n
What used to be suspicious emails and basic password theft has evolved into new, more deceptive strategies powered by Artificial Intelligence, which can make traditional security measures less effective against identity theft. So today we want to help you stay vigilant for your financial well-being.\n<\/p>\n
Below are some of the top trending cyber threats affecting individuals today, along with practical steps you can take to protect yourself:\n<\/p>\n
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AI-Enhanced Phishing and Social Engineering. -STOCK PHOTO<\/p>\n
AI-Enhanced Phishing and Social Engineering \u2013 Typically, we watch for errors in emails or texts to alert us that a communication is fake. But now criminals are using powerful AI tools to create messages that look and sound exactly like legitimate communications from well-known companies, government agencies, or even friends and relatives to trick people into giving up passwords, credit card and banking information, clicking on a link and more.<\/p>\n
Identity Theft: Hackers steal personal data \u2013 names, social security numbers, credit card numbers \u2013 to open accounts, take out loans, or make fraudulent purchases.
\nRansomware: Malware that locks files or systems and demands payment to restore access.
\nAI-Driven Fraud: In this new age, you have probably heard about the uncanny ability of AI to generate fake videos, images or voices of real people developed using a few seconds of audio or video from an individual\u2019s social media, voicemail or online videos. This can be used for blackmail, misinformation or impersonation.<\/p>\n
To avoid becoming a victim, here are several recommended best practices:\n<\/p>\n
Use strong, unique passwords. Most people use the same or similar passwords for all their online accounts, which makes it easy for hackers to break.
\nDo not write passwords on paper. Use a reliable password management tool such as LastPass, NordPass, or Keeper.\u00a0 Password management tools are cloud-based and house all your passwords in one place.
\nEnable the two-factor authentication, especially for email, banking and social media. This adds an extra layer of protection even if your password is stolen.
\nKeep software and devices up to date. Install reputable antivirus, anti-malware and firewall software. Regularly update your operating systems, apps and antivirus.
\nMonitor accounts and credit. Review bank and credit card statements regularly.\u00a0 Consider freezing your credit through the major credit bureaus of TransUnion, Experian and Equifax, so no one can open accounts or credit cards in your name.
\nBe skeptical of emails and links. Don\u2019t click on links or download attachments from unknown or unexpected senders.\u00a0 Check for small misspellings in email addresses or websites.
\nIf any email, text or call seems suspicious, do not use the phone number provided. Instead, look up the company, organization, friend or family member from a known source, such a legitimate website or your personal contact directory and verify that they are attempting to reach you.<\/p>\n
If you have been a victim of cybercrime, change your passwords and login information immediately.\u00a0 Run a full antivirus and anti-malware scan.\u00a0 Contact your financial institutions, credit card companies, and report the incident to the authorities and your credit bureaus.\n<\/p>\n
AI is a beneficial resource for the cybersecurity field, making it more intelligent, adaptive, and faster in protecting your identity and finances \u2013 but those with harmful intentions are using it, as well.\u00a0 Keep your holidays happy.\u00a0 Your personal oversight is the best first point of defense.\u00a0\u00a0 www.floridatrust.com<\/a>\n<\/p>\n About Florida Trust Wealth Management\n<\/p>\n Florida Trust Wealth Management is an independent state-chartered trust company with more than $5 billion in assets under management that provides Family Office<\/a> and Wealth Management<\/a> Services, including investment management<\/a>, trust administration<\/a> and financial counsel to high-net-worth individuals, families, businesses, foundations and endowments. The firm is focused on wealth management services that are absolute-return oriented and performance-driven. Originally established in 2001, the company operated under its flagship name of The Sanibel Captiva Trust Company for 25 years, including its divisions of The Naples Trust Company and The Tampa Bay Trust Company. Offices in Sanibel-Captiva, Fort Myers, Naples, Marco Island, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Belleair Bluffs and Tarpon Springs. floridatrust.com<\/a>\n<\/p>\n \u00a0\n<\/p>\n LEGAL, INVESTMENT AND TAX NOTICE: This information is not intended to be and should not be treated as legal advice, investment advice or tax advice.\u00a0 Readers, including professionals, should under no circumstances rely upon this information as a substitute for their own research or for obtaining specific legal or tax advice from their own counsel. Not FDIC Insured | No Guarantee | May Lose Value\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Megan Marquardt, Cfp\u00ae, Ctfa President \u2013 Fort Myers. -COURTESY PHOTO At this time of year, when so many…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":79140,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":["post-79139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}