- Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation
I recently participated in a webinar on the impact of data breaches in Massachusetts, in partnership with our colleagues at the MassCyberCenter. In this session, we reviewed findings from our analysis of more than 2,000 data breaches that affected Massachusetts residents. We discussed the origins of breaches and remediation methods through a lens of people, process, and technology.
When a data breach occurs, hackers can access personal information to commit scams and fraud or steal money. With continued advances in technology, these incidents are unavoidable and put all of us at increased risk. Here, I want to focus on people — all of us — and what we can do to protect ourselves from continued attacks that seek to steal our private data.
I always say, “Knowledge is our best defense against scams and fraud.” The more you know about scam and fraud prevention, the more power you have to stop your information from being stolen and used for criminal activity. This is why I am dedicated to education and outreach, which is a key part of our mission at the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation.
My team and I want you to be empowered, to know how to protect yourself, and what to do if you become a victim of hackers and fraudsters.
We host webinars for businesses and consumers. We work with community partners to distribute vital consumer protection information in various languages to their neighborhoods. We continually add valuable resources for Massachusetts consumers to our website. We actively post on social media. We send a Consumer Connection e-news — sign up to receive my monthly tips!
I truly believe that knowledge is power and I invite you to use and share our resources. In the meantime, here are some easy ways you can better protect yourself, starting now.
- Frequently change your passwords.
- Make sure to use at least 15 unique characters when creating passwords.
- Consider using passkeys instead of passwords.
- Always use multifactor authentication (MFA) as an added layer of protection for financial and other accounts.
- Don’t click on suspicious links in texts or emails – stop, look, and think before you respond (and in most cases, don’t respond). To help identify a scam, ask yourself these questions:
- Did I really order that product or service?
- Do I have an account with the company referenced in a message?
- Do I know the phone number or email of the sender?
- Is the message threatening me to pay or act quickly?
- Closely examine promotional offers that seem too good to be true because they are likely a scam.
- Never give out personal information to anyone that contacts you directly.
- Be careful about how much personal information you share on social media.
- Replace or update old computers and other equipment.
- Set up automatic security updates on your devices.
If you think you have been scammed, visit our Protect Your Privacy and Identity page for information on what to do.
Remember, the more we know, the better we can protect ourselves.
