The holiday season has become as well known for frenzied shopping and door-buster sales as it is for feasts with family and friends, festive parades and football. Making your way to the
stores this season is all but unavoidable, but be cautious—now more so than ever, you need to make sure you’re prepared to prevent and handle any data breeches or identity theft that comes your way.

Remember, it was only a year ago that Target disclosed that its credit card database had been hacked. Just a month later, Neiman Marcus suffered the same fate.

Don’t fall victim to cybercrimes or identity theft. Protect yourself this holiday season by following these shopping safety tips.

1. Create strong passwords and update them frequently.
Passwords provide the first line of defense against unauthorized access to your accounts. The stronger your password, the more protected you’ll be.

In general, strong passwords:

• Are at least eight characters long.
• Don’t contain your username, real name or company name.
• Don’t contain a complete word.
• Are significantly different from previous passwords.
• Contain a combination of uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers and symbols.

Also, be sure to change your passwords every 3 months or so to stay ahead of cyber crime.

2. Keep sensitive and personal documents secure.
Your Social Security card, birth certificate and other important documents should be kept in a safe-deposit box or fireproof safe. At the very list, keep your sensitive documents filed in a secure place in your home, not in your purse, wallet or car.

3. Protect and set a password on your mobile device.
While the small, lightweight design of our mobile devices make them easy to carry with us, this also makes them easy to misplace or lose.

Back up and protect the data on your mobile device. Create a strong password, use your device’s auto-lock feature and don’t share your device with others. Also, back up your data, delete messages with sensitive information and install security updates.

4. Check your credit report.
At a minimum, you should check your credit report at least once every 12 months. Among other benefits of checking your score, this is often the first indicator that you’ve been the victim of
identity theft.

Multiple websites offer opportunities for their users to check their credit report for free. If you find names you don’t recognize, Social Security numbers that don’t belong to you or accounts that aren’t yours, you might have been a victim of fraud. Work with an expert, Like National Credit Federation who can help you stop this fraud and prevent future misuse of your identity.

5. Only carry what you need in your purse or wallet.
Don’t needlessly expose your credit card, debit cards or important documents to possible theft. Leave any cards that you aren’t planning to use, as well as your Social Security card, in a safe, secured spot when you head out on the town.

6. Make a copy of everything you carry and store them
in a safe place. If you’ve ever misplaced your purse or wallet—or worse yet, had them stolen—you know that canceling and replacing your cards can be a huge hassle.

Minimize this headache by making front and back copies of everything that you carry with you, like your credit cards, debit cards and drivers license. Store these copies alongside your other important documents.

If you’ve fallen victim to cybercrime, been hit by identity theft or need to make a dramatic improvement to your credit score, call National Credit Federation at (877) 720-PLUS (7587). We’ll help you develop a strategy to get your life back on track and legally restore your credit score!

-Dave Fulk
President | National Credit Federation