Vancouver, BC – March 28, 2023
As spring quickly approaches, many Canadians are cleaning up and clearing out their clutter. One area that many overlook isn’t the corner of a room or a forgotten closet, it’s their own digital devices.
The BBB serving Mainland BC and Yukon is reminding the public to make time for digital decluttering, as it is guaranteed to give you peace of mind that your personal information, including passwords, home addresses, and personal emails are safe.
“Whether it’s downloading all your files to a hard drive, saving passwords to a secure keeper, or taking an inventory and deleting logins to outdated accounts and apps, it’s all about tying up loose ends,” says Aaron Guillen, Media and Communications Specialist with the BBB. “The best way to make sure your private information doesn’t get in the wrong hands is by placing yourself in the scammer’s shoes. Take an evening and do some digital organizing, purging and overall decluttering. Your future self will thank you!”
Here are BBB’s top five tips on how to start a digital decluttering this spring:
1. Purge old digital files. Clean out your old email, files, and downloads. Always empty the trash when you’re done. Unsubscribe from newsletters, email alerts and mailing lists you no longer read. Remove information in any of your accounts that isn’t needed anymore, such as saved credit cards or old documents in cloud storage. Delete your financial information from any unnecessary online locations. Backup your remaining files to a cloud store or external device you trust.
2. Actively manage your phone’s app access. Some apps enable location services, Bluetooth, microphone and camera automatically, so make sure you know what information is being shared with the world. For example, Google Maps tracks everywhere you’ve been with a feature called Timeline. If a hacker cracks your Google account, they’ve got full access to your home address, your place of work, or any place you visited that you used directions to get to on their app. If you don’t want that information being tracked, you can ‘pause’ location history and turn off that feature within the app.
3. Dispose of electronic devices securely. Anything that has the ability to store information can retain that information even after you have deleted it, including ones that aren’t obvious, such as phones, wearables, networking equipment, copiers, and printers. Thoroughly wipe all electronic devices or have them shredded by a trusted vendor before disposal.
4. Take inventory of your passwords. Are they all long and strong? Change any that aren’t. Use a unique password for each account by creating a ‘passphrase’. Consider using a password manager to store and protect your passwords. Turn on multi-factor authentication ‒ also known as two-step verification or two-factor authentication ‒ on critical accounts like email, banking and social media where available. Check your passwords against the Have I Been Pwned tool. You can quickly search to see which of your passwords or emails have been exposed in large-scale corporate data breaches so you can know which ones to change immediately.
5. Refresh your online presence. Review your privacy and security settings on social media sites and other sites you use. Delete old photos, posts, etc. that are embarrassing or no longer represent who you are. Review friends on social networks and contacts on phones and other devices. Does everyone still belong?
For more tips on how to fully complete a digital decluttering, click here.
Fall for a scam or narrowly avoid one? There is power in telling your story. Report your personal experiences to BBB Scam Tracker, Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre and your local police.
