Tough-talking Troy is not trying to be scary this week. He just wants you to be mindful of how and “how much” personal information you put out there for the world to see. Sounds funny coming from a guy who has a Facebook site, Twitter account, and blogs regularly, huh?
Despite the lures of social media and being connected, there are a couple of really good rules to follow:
- Don’t talk to strangers. It worked when you were 4 and it works when you are 34 and even 54 (let’s just skip that year for now). What I mean is know who you are “friending” on Facebook.
- Don’t put anything in print that will come back to haunt you. I cannot for the life of me understand why some folks use Facebook, My Space, Twitter, and Blogs to air their dirty little secrets. Hello? Do they think no one is paying any attention?
- When in doubt, it’s usually best to error on the side of caution.
Hopefully you heard Bonnie Ciuffo, Chief Information and Security Officer for the credit union, on “Moms in the Morning.” She gave some great advice on password protection and using only encrypted websites or those with HTTPS in the address line when giving personal information online.
Tough-talking Troy is telling everybody to make sure they know who is watching whom! Check out this website for more security information and review some of Bonnie’s information reprinted below for your convenience.
- Use secure passwords. When choosing passwords for your bank account, email, and other sensitive information, be sure to use an intricate password that is not publicly available or easy for a fraudster to guess. Weak passwords include birthdays, common words, your mother’s maiden name, and the last four digits of your social security number. Strong passwords contain a mixture of letters, numbers and special characters (e.g., “?”, “!”, “#”, etc.). For critical accounts, it’s also a good idea to use a unique password, different from the passwords used for less important purposes.
- Do your research before disclosing personal information. In general, it’s best to share as little personal information as possible online. However, if you do need to give out sensitive information like your credit card number or home address, it’s always best to verify that the recipient of the information is trustworthy. This can be done by checking reviews of unfamiliar websites before entering personal information and allows you to see if others have reported issues such as phishing. Other red flags to watch out for are personal information requests over email (generally not secure) and personal information request on pages without encryption or HTTPS.
Stranger Danger! Stanger Danger! Take it back to the basics! Good info
I agree that people shouldn’t air their dirty laundry on social media. So many times I have seen TMI on people’s FB page. You would think common sense would kick in and people would know what to put and not to put on FB. Good blog post! Thanks!
As an employee of SCFCU, why do you not tell the members about how much ego you have Troy and how your changes caused us all of those losses?
Evensc and Commenter2011… thanks for the positive comments on your posts on April 1 at 10am and 2:47pm respectively.
Now for Commenter2011 from 11:43pm. What’s up with your question? You already know that I’m Tough-talking Troy, so don’t expect me to hold back. Relatively speaking since we all have an ego, I am unsure to whom it is being compared. Therefore, it would be unwise of me to think that mine is greater than the size you imagine it to be.
Regarding the loosely directed comment that ego of management and any credit union loss goes hand in hand is … well … you and the other readers can decide for yourselves. Let’s just assume for the sake of argument that you are posing a thought-provoking inquiry and wanted to have some fun on April Fool’s Day. No joking aside, the credit union does not have egomanaics making far out investing or financing decisions. (that would way too exciting.) The sad fact is that any loss reported on the credit union’s financial statements, you know the ones we put out in the open at every branch, every month, are from members who decide they cannot or will not uphold a lending arrangement and make their loan payments as promised.
Sad to say, some folks (even in “Bless your heart” South Carolina) just do not always honor their commitments, and before you decide to counter with “Why don’t you help the little guy?” I’d like to remind you and others reading that this credit union was one of the first financial institutions (starting in 2008, yes 2008) in the Charleston, Columbia and Georgetown areas that began a program to work with members who owned up to financial hardships, but still wanted to do the right thing. We worked with these members to find appropriate solutions that allowed them to honor an obligation while protecting their credit history.
Now, if I’ve gotten myself off on the wrong foot with you, or you are going to respond with “ego?” “who, you Troy?” “Why losses, which losses? Whatever are you talkin’ about, Rhett?” It’s just an April Fool’s comment! Then it will be a hearty laugh for both, but the losses that I explained are still not funny, because when one member doesn’t pay … the rest of us do. It’s the cooperative spirit.
Thanks so much for reading the blog and taking time to air your question. Ah, don’t we feel better already?