Personal Information Breaches are Linked to Fitness Tracking Devices

March 1, 2016

Protect yourself from fitness tracker identity theft!

All those fitness tracking devices may be helping you stick to your new year resolutions, but do they pose a threat to your safety? These devices track personal information about you. How much you exercise, your caloric intake, your sleeping patterns, and even your location. While you may not think that it means much to anyone, companies can use such information to target ads to you or burglars can tell when you’re not home. Make sure you take precautions to protect yourself from fitness tracking crimes. Check out these tips for keeping your information safe.

Strengthen your passwords.

The stronger your passwords, the better off your security. Make sure that your passwords are strong by including numbers, letters, and special characters, and be sure to avoid using personal information in your password.

Change your privacy settings.

Make sure your privacy settings on your device are secure. Also, be sure to review the fitness tracker’s privacy policy. There may be fine print that gives you further insight into how your information is protected. Make sure the data stored by the fitness tracker is kept in a safe place and is encrypted.

Install updates.

Updates can help to increase security on the app. Make sure you regularly update your devices.

Only use secure locations.

Using open networks can make your information more susceptible to thieves. When using any device, make sure to only use a secure network.

Don’t use the location tracking feature.

Lower your risk by turning off the location tracking feature. That way your daily excursions won’t be visible to everyone.

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