Any data you expose on the Internet, or your service provider exposes on the Internet, is up for grabs; regardless of the site and how they swear your data is safe.....they are lying. They can't seem to stop the hackers.

I do very little on line, by design. I don't trust anyone. If you call email, social media, I'm on that, but little else. Banking is my one exposure that worries me. But, if you ever bought anything online, your data is available, and it is just a matter of time. Your interaction with a service provider is subject to being stolen regardless of their extensive promises.

This week I received three written notices of data breaches, or as they like to call them, data security incidents. A telecom company, a medical provider, and an entertainment provider wrote to assure me that my personal information is of the utmost importance to them. (They might as well have just sent me their thoughts & prayers.) They gave me a long list of things I can do now since they have failed to do their job and secure my information. It just leaves me shaking my head.

It doesn't matter whether your data is password protested or encrypted, it's there for the bad guys to harvest.

It's just too easy. https://apnews.com/article/fra...=pocket-newtab-en-us

Lifelock has sent me 3 data breach notifications in the last 10 days. I get 3-5 calls a day to my cell phone from scammers and phishers. Last summer my credit card was hacked twice. Each time after eating at a certain restaurant. Each time, they charged multiple Door Dash's for Mexican food delivery and Gucci handbags. One was $3,000! Had another card hacked last week. It's a constant onslaught.

I had the same exact thing a few months back. Door dash and Ubers.


Thankfully my back stopped it.

By the time I kinda retired + closed down my business, of all the phone calls I got, 9 out of 10 were telemarketers. I'm still getting them since I kept my same number, but now I have Robokiller + they filter all the calls so that my phone only rings when it is a valid contact and/or customer. I go through the list at the end of the day + just delete them. Likewise, I have a friend who had his identity stolen a few years back, + he's still going through grief. Really screwed up his social security too. A couple of years ago, when all those "stimulus checks" were going out, he never got one.

I only use cash at the drive-in windows now. Too easy for the kids to photograph the card front and back with a cellphone.