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MoneyWi$e: Protecting Your Online Privacy · Talking FACS

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  Welcome to Talking FACS what you need to know about family,
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  food, finance, and fitness.
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  This nationally recognized, award-winning podcast is hosted by the University
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  of Kentucky Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Program.
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  Our educators share research knowledge with individuals, families,
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  and communities to improve quality of life.
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  Back in the old days, we just had to worry about all of the pieces of mail that
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  we received that had our personal information on it,
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  got shredded appropriately so that we didn't have to worry about people going
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  through our trash and finding ways to mine our data.
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  But now we have to worry about our digital data and how we can protect ourselves.
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  Welcome to Talking FACS, where we share information you can use to protect
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  yourself, your community, and our state.
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  My guest today is Kelly May, our Senior Extension Associate for Family Finance
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  and Resource Management.
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  And she is here to talk about protecting your online privacy. Welcome, Kelly.
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  Hi, Mindy. Thanks for having me on here. Kelly, I'm really glad that you're
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  here as part of our MoneyWi$e series.
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  And this topic is important because our online privacy is something that we
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  deal with daily, but we might not think about daily.
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  You're absolutely right. It's ingrained into everything that we do nowadays.
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  And if we don't really take steps to protect our online privacy,
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  then we are exposing ourselves to a whole host of problems that can really cause
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  a problem. So how is our data collected?
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  You know, we have all these digital devices and they make our lives so convenient.
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  I can't imagine living without my phone and my laptop and all the things that I have.
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  But there are cautions we need to be aware of, and not that we have to think
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  about it all the time, but some things to think about occasionally.
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  And so we have lots of devices. I mentioned phones and laptops and tablets,
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  and we know those are collecting data.
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  But do you know you have lots of other smart tech probably in your house right
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  now that might be collecting data? So we have smartwatches and security cameras
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  and maybe baby monitors or thermostats.
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  I think even some televisions and refrigerators can collect information nowadays. Washing machines.
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  Washing machines and your home voice assistant.
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  And there's all kinds. And even our power supply is collected.
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  Some might be. So there are all kinds of technology, and it's wonderful technology
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  that makes our life great and easy,
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  but they might be collecting personal information, and they're only limited
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  by the privacy agreements and the things that we allow them to do.
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  So they may be collecting a lot more than you realize. Well,
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  and if you periodically get those privacy agreements,
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  sometimes in the regular old snail mail, and sometimes it comes in a digital
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  form, you really do need to pay attention to those, don't you?
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  Right. They could change something on you, and all of a sudden they're collecting
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  something you didn't realize.
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  So don't ignore them. Don't throw them away or don't hit delete.
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  Read through them and see what's going on. So what data can be collected?
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  It's a wide range. So a lot of the things we realize they're collecting are
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  like with your cell phone.
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  It might be your location or your contacts or who you're calling, your messages.
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  With anything that has a browser, they may be tracking your browsing history.
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  There might be apps that you use
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  or files that you've downloaded that some different companies can track.
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  For the apps, some examples are like fitness data or payments that you make.
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  Some track facial recognition or audio conversations.
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  So some of it gets into kind of more personal features and information.
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  Why can this data be used?
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  So a lot of it's collected truly to help the apps run better.
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  So they're trying to provide a service and it's obviously a service that you
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  want because you signed up for it.
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  So some of those things are needed to provide the service, but sometimes they
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  collect more information than absolutely necessary.
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  And so that's why when you sign up for an app in particular,
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  you can be informed of what features of your phone are being used and you can
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  turn some of those things off.
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  But say your television or your refrigerator or your washing machine may not
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  pop up that screen where you get to pick.
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  So other information can be
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  used in a more harmful way. So some companies sell information to others.
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  So usually it's not the app that we're trying to use or the product that we're trying to use.
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  More that they've collected the information and then it gets shared with somebody else.
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  So that's why when you mentioned those privacy agreements, that's why that information
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  is important because they could share that with somebody else.
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  And the somebody else might be the person who's not using it the way you hope.
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  Personal data can be used to influence your buying choices.
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  So when you browse the internet or, for example, get on a social media account,
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  there are software algorithms that are watching all the things you look at so
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  that they can sell you things.
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  So advertising is a big way that your information is used.
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  So you might suddenly start noticing products for sale or articles on the internet
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  that relate to what you were browsing.
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  It's kind of funny that I share a Pinterest account with my daughter.
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  She hasn't set up her own yet, so she's still using mine.
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  And I get very interesting things on my Pinterest. We both like to craft.
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  And so I get to see what kind of crafts she's making, but then it will sell,
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  put ads in my other feeds because they think it's me. That's always very interesting.
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  When you go to some of those sites, it will say, we use cookies.
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  And if you say you are allowed to use cookies when I look at your site,
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  that doesn't mean you're going to enjoy a sweet treat.
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  That means that you are giving them permission to follow what you are purchasing
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  or what you are even looking at.
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  That's right. That's right. Well, and so these are the more harmless things,
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  but there are also bad actors out there who are trying to take from us.
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  So thieves may attempt to get your data so they can access your financial accounts,
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  such as your bank account or rerouting your tax refund or much more serious
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  things than just trying to sell you something.
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  That is exactly right. So what can we do about this?
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  How can our listeners and how can it wrong? They protect themselves.
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  Absolutely. So in this month's Money Wise newsletter, we've shared a few do's
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  and don'ts. And a lot of these came from the U.S.
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  Department of Defense and other trusted sources.
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  So here are some things you can do or stop doing to protect yourself.
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  One of them is to make sure your Wi-Fi at home is set up securely.
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  And part of that is choosing a name that doesn't identify you in the first place.
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  So you probably don't want to name your home network Smith family home.
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  Name it something more generic so that others can't figure out that it's you and try to get on.
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  But you want to make sure your Wi-Fi is password protected. So use that encryption
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  and keep your router firmware up to date.
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  Check to see if your usernames or passwords have been compromised.
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  There is a website called Have I Been Pawned, and you can type in your,
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  email address and see if it has been used or if your password has been used in other places.
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  And so if it has been, you want to change those passwords immediately.
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  And speaking of passwords, make sure that there are strong ones.
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  So you want a good long password with 10 or more characters,
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  with a combination of uppercase letters, lowercase numbers, symbols,
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  as much stuff as you can put in it, the better it is.
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  And don't use the same one for every account, because if it gets compromised,
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  then you have to worry about all the places you've used that same password.
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  So definitely for your most important accounts, like your bank account,
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  use a different, unique password.
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  And it should not be password.
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  Yes, password should not be password. You can actually Google the most common
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  passwords. Make sure you don't use any of those. Yes.
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  Well, and I like to recommend that you use a combination of words and letters,
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  and often your device or the place where you are visiting is going to say you
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  have to use a combination of uppercase and lowercase and numbers and symbols,
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  and that's a part of their requirement.
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  So, yes, it is annoying, and yes, it's hard to remember, but that is the point.
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  They want it to be hard to remember because if it's hard to remember,
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  it's probably going to be harder to crack.
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  That's exactly right. And if you want to make it even more secure,
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  you can use two-factor authentication.
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  And what that means is in addition to just putting in a password,
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  you have a second thing that you have to go through. So another hoop to jump through.
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  So that might be an example is like biometrics.
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  So if you need your thumbprint or your facial recognition, that would be one way.
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  Or if you have a code texted to you or sent to your email, then whoever's trying
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  to hack in can't just use your password.
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  They have to also have access to your phone or your email account so they can
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  get that second piece of information to keep it more secure.
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  Yes, those are great solutions for protecting yourself online.
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  Kelly, I have enjoyed this conversation. And before we go, I have a kindergarten joke for you.
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  So what did the new father computer get called by his baby computer? What?
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  Data.
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  So everyone who listens knows that I have a kindergartner in my life.
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  That's a good dad joke. And it's appropriate because this is our Money Wise
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  for June topic, which is the month of Father's Day. Exactly, exactly.
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  So if you are just tuning in, you are listening to Talking Facts.
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  And this is our Money Wise show for June.
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  And we will link all of the resources that Kelly has talked about,
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  as well as the Money Wise newsletter in our show notes. So thank you, Kelly, for joining us.
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  Thanks so much. You are listening to Talking FACS, presented by Family and
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  Consumer Sciences Extension from the Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture,
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  Food, and Environment at the University of Kentucky.
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  Thank you for listening to Talking FACS. we deliver programs focusing on nutrition,
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  Music.