Building Good Tech Habits

Tech Talk

It was only two issues ago that I wrote about Delta being the prominent COVID-19 variant, and now we have the much-more transmissible Omicron as we begin 2022. I hope everyone has been able to enjoy the company of family and friends — in-person or virtually — by following health department guidelines.

In the second half of 2021, the popular media was ablaze with continued reporting on crimes committed in the digital world; even hospitals were fair game to illicit profiteers. I’ve also gotten many more questions and requests for help related to staying safe in the digital world.

Safety First
I find a parallel in following the guidelines recommended by the health department to reduce the transmission of communicable diseases like COVID-19 or flu and my recommendations for building good internet habits. 

Just like a virus in the real world, internet criminals capitalize on our bad habits. They want us to open unsolicited emails and text messages so they can steal our money and identities. They count on us to take scam bait because it’s written in such a way to make us fearful, angry or sympathetic to a situation.

The best tactic is to ignore all unsolicited emails and text messages and let the answering machine pick up phone calls from numbers you don’t recognize.

Here’s an analogy: if you don’t open the front door when an unknown person knocks in the real world, it makes sense that you also don’t answer an unsolicited email or text message in the digital world.

Even so, I, too, occasionally open unsolicited emails. The very first thing you should do after opening an unsolicited email is to verify the sender’s email address. For example, if Amazon or Kohl’s sends you an online order confirmation for your recent purchase, it would come from an email address ending in @amazon.com or @kohls.com, respectively.

If you get a Kohl’s order confirmation email when you haven’t ordered anything recently that reads: “Thank you for your recent order of $499. Please click on the link below or call us at 123-456-7890 to check your order status” from an email address that does not end in @kohls.com but rather ends in @gmail.com, @yahoo.com or is totally unrelated to a company or organization, you know it is a phishing or scam email.

Let’s continue to build good habits when using the internet. 

I Got a Suspicious Email, Text or Call
Now What?

• On a browser or computer: Mark it as SPAM so future emails from the same sender will skip your inbox and land in the SPAM or JUNK folder. 
• On an app, smartphone or tablet: In the Gmail app, tap and hold an offending email, tap the three dots icon, select “Report spam.”

            In the mail app (iPhone/iPad): Tap & hold offending email, scroll & tap “> Mark,” tap “Move to Junk.”

• Reveal the sender’s email address: Look for and tap on the icon that looks like a “v” or find wording in blue that says “Details” to reveal the sender’s email address. Tapping the sender’s name when using the “Mail” app on iPhone or iPad, should do the trick. 
• If your email account is compromised: Change your email account password ASAP, check and delete any “reply-to” entry you didn’t make and delete filters you don’t recognize. 
• On the phone: When asked a question after picking up an unsolicited call, never answer in the affirmative (just hang up!). If you answer “yes” to a scammer, you may have agreed to buy something.