In the News
Account hacks continue to plague the consumer market. In Chipotle customers are saying their accounts have been hacked, Zack Whittaker at TechCrunch discusses customer reports of hacked accounts which Chipotle claims is the result of credential stuffing, but is still investigating the incident. Whittaker reports that customers claim to have had fraudulent orders placed through their accounts.
Our Take
Creating an account with a shopping site or food company that you frequent can be a great way to earn rewards and find out new deals and services. However, these accounts do not typically have the same security and privacy measures as accounts in other industries such as financial services. That does not necessarily make these accounts unsafe, but you should proceed with more caution when saving personal information on these sites. Opting not to save payment information and only fill out the required sections are great ways to minimize the risk of data exposure. Additionally, reusing passwords on these types of accounts may not seem like a big deal because they don’t contain the vast amounts of personal information that your social media, financial, and healthcare apps may store. However, reusing passwords on any accounts can put you and your data at risk.
Recommendations
How can you protect the security and privacy of your accounts?
- Use safe password practices when creating online accounts, and take advantage of Multi-factor Authentication where possible
- Minimize the number of accounts that have direct access to your bank account or card numbers
- Check your email, financial accounts, and credit reports regularly for abnormal activities
- Stay up to date on the news regarding recent data breaches and exposures to see if you may have been affected