Former FBI agent Jason Hogg shared five tips for staying safe online. Hogg emphasized the importance of validating messages and being careful on social media. He advised using a VPN on public WiFi, limiting your credentials, and not reusing passwords.
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This told essay is based on conversations with Jason Hogg, a former FBI agent and executive at private equity firm Great Hill Partners. Edited for length and clarity.
I can’t go into too much detail, but I was a special agent in the FBI.
As a member of Special Operations Group 13, I was exposed to a wide range of humanity’s worst conditions, from organized crime and terrorist activity to financial abuse and online death threats.
After leaving the FBI, I became the global CEO of a cybersecurity company, doing everything from digital forensics to penetration testing.
The problem with staying safe on the internet these days is that the horse is out of the barn. But there’s more you can do.
Here are five simple things to keep in mind while on the internet.
always suspect
If you receive a video, phone call, voicemail, email, or direct message, please independently verify its authenticity with the sender.
If you don’t recognize the number on the phone, but you think it’s the person, put the person on hold and check with them individually.
Someone once tried to make a deepfake call to my mother. They sounded like my oldest daughter. My mother was 80 years old at the time, and the good news is that multiple members of her family were FBI agents or detectives, so she immediately became suspicious.
She called me to confirm and I knew it was fake because her daughter was there too. Some people have not been so cautious in the past.
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listen to mobile phone
You know how your phone sometimes notifies you that your password has been compromised due to a data breach? Some people ignore it, but it’s surprising to me.
My father, a former CEO of Mastercard and a former FBI agent himself, ended up having large sums of money taken from his checking account because his credentials were compromised and never reset.
Check the list of apps whose passwords have been compromised (you might be surprised at how many websites you have passwords for in the first place), access the apps, and change your passwords, at least for important ones. .
Never use the same password for everything. You don’t need to have 150 passwords for 150 websites, but spread out your passwords.
I know it’s a hassle, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Free Wi-Fi is risky
If you use free WiFi at coffee shops or train stations, definitely consider installing a VPN on your phone. It’s very easy.
Also, avoid conducting financial transactions on public WiFi networks. You never know who will have access to that information.
Lock down your credit information
It’s easy. Call your reporting agency (like Experian) and tell them you want to lock your credit bureau. A passkey will be developed to unlock it later.
My lifelong friend’s father had his identity stolen once, but the credit bureaus were not locked.
The criminals used a false identity to purchase real estate in Brooklyn in his name and used the property to conduct fraudulent transactions.
It was quite a disruption to his life, both personally and financially.
This is something many people don’t do, but it’s a free step and instantly increases your protection against fraud.
Post intelligently
When posting, always assume that your post may be used against you in some way. Can you still post?
Posting a photo of yourself having a good time is one thing you do, but publicly tagging everyone in the photo is another thing.
For all the positives that come from social media, it can also be a treasure trove of information for the bad guys. There are videos, there are photos, and there are friendship connections. There’s also machine learning that can handle all of this at incredible speeds. This is something we’ve never seen before.
There are service platforms and ransomware on the dark web that fuel these exploits. That’s also how deepfakes become increasingly convincing. Deepfakes use audio and image models from videos and photos that are already out there.
