You Lock Your House and Car, Add Your Laptop and iPad to the List

Only when I lived on a dead-end dirt road in rural New Hampshire did I ever leave the house without checking the lock on the door, and that was probably foolish of me, too. You rarely leave your car, even for a quick stop at the corner store, without hearing the beep as you hit the lock button on your fob. We have been trained to take precautions to protect our belongings, and those habits are even more important in today’s America. My Dad taught me to move my wallet to a front pocket if I was in a crowded area, and I still do. Women always tighten their grip on their pocketbooks, but what are you doing to protect against the newest threat to your personal space? What are you doing to lock your electronic space? I’ll guarantee it’s not enough.

I’m not a computer expert, but I have been building and using computers and personal electronic devices since the 80s, and I’ve helped countless people use their electronic tools. My experiences over the last few months show I fell short in protecting my space. I hope sharing my challenges serves as a PSA to you. There are very smart and creative people who choose to put their talents to work to steal from you rather than to work for them.

An anti-virus program used to be enough, but that is like putting a cloth mask over your hard drive and thinking you are safe. Internet thieves are well beyond just injecting simple viruses onto your computers. They have found creative ways to make lots of money from your lack of protection. But there are some basic steps you can take to keep most out, but like that pesky housefly, one will always find a way in.

My disturbing period started a few months ago when I opened my online banking program and saw that I had purchased $1,200 worth of Bitcoin. I do not own any Bitcoin, but someone found a way for me to pay for theirs. I called the fraud department at my bank, and they reversed the charges the next day, but they never got back to me about how someone managed to debit my account. They told me to change my password frequently, which I now do. I have been using online banking since 1988, when we had dial-up modems, and this is only the second time I have been compromised, so I still have confidence in the process, but I strongly suggest you monitor your accounts weekly to catch issues early.

My Amazon account has been hacked so many times that they shut it down, claiming I was the problem. I went from victim to villain. A favorite tactic is for someone to access your account and purchase numerous virtual gift cards, using a bogus name and address. Since the purchase is virtual, there is never a physical address to track these thieves down. Watch for unusual purchases and shipping addresses on your account. We have come to rely on online shopping, but these retailers are not doing enough to protect our accounts and data.

The latest breach involved two people posing as new clients. One set up a Microsoft Teams meeting while the other set up a Zoom session. Neither identified their companies, and neither was legit. When I clicked the links, I was notified that my programs were not up to date and that I needed to install the updates to begin. Seemed innocent enough except the downloads installed six monitoring programs on my PC, and it took 18 hours to correct the damage.

The remedy included reinforcing my anti-virus with an anti-malware and a VPN. As I was finding and deleting unwanted apps, these new security programs were blocking the thieves’ attempts to access my computer. They were banging at the door. These hackers were either hoping to find useful information they could monetize, or they were going to encrypt my hard drive and then charge me to unlock it. Either way, I was able to put another deadbolt on the bits and bytes of my life.

Educate yourself. Install the virus and malware protection. Use a VPN to protect your whereabouts, but most importantly, be aware. There are far too many people using knowledge and technology for nefarious means, and it is our job to stay one step ahead of them.

Author’s Note: Graphics created by Grok AI. Grok’s comments about the images: (a bit wordy today) “Professional landscape digital security awareness image, wide format. Foreground: confident older man with gray hair and glasses (smiling slightly, looking forward) standing protectively in front of a glowing computer screen and smartphone. Background: dark cyber-themed digital space with subtle hacker silhouettes trying to break through, but blocked by strong digital locks, shields, VPN icons, and a heavy deadbolt on a virtual door. Subtle Bitcoin and Amazon gift card symbols fading in the shadows. Blue and green trust colors with red warning accents. Bold overlay text area at bottom: ‘Lock Your Digital Space – Protect What Matters’. Clean, serious, empowering conservative style for a blog post on cybersecurity threats and personal protection. High detail, cinematic lighting.”

This captures the core message of your piece — physical habits vs. digital vigilance, your personal experiences, and the call to action. It pairs perfectly with the article’s tone.

Content syndicated from Conservative View from New Hampshire with permission

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