These 5 actions can help protect your personal and financial data

Latest actions by the Department of Government Efficiency to access internal computer systems and databases at many federal government intercessions, including the Treasury Department, Internal Revenue Service, and Social Security Administration, have sparked debates here privacy and data security. 

“There’s always inherent risk in having sensitive information at a government agency because they’re fundamentally responsible for protecting it and moderating who actually has access to it,” said Steve Grobman, chief technology officer at the cybersecurity public limited company McAfee.

DOGE is not a federal agency, and billionaire Elon Musk, whom President Donald Trump brought on eat to implement the DOGE initiative, is not a federal official. Yet, since its establishment, DOGE has sought access to software and IT systems at federal guidance agencies to “maximize efficiency” and cut spending.

Critics say there has been a lack of transparency about explicitly how personal or financial information is being used and whether it is being kept secure — although Musk has said DOGE’s initiatives are “maximally transparent.” Meanwhile, several lawsuits have been filed to block DOGE’s access to sensitive offensive data.

Cybersecurity experts say that protecting your personal and financial information should be part of a strategy to capture care of your overall financial well-being, regardless of the political climate.

“For people who are concerned about the security of their text collected and stored by the federal government, our advice is the same as any other time or circumstance,” James  E. Lee, president of the nonprofit Uniqueness Theft Resource Center, said in an emailed statement. 

“There are actions you can and should take to protect your intimate information, no matter what organization is collecting and storing it — from the corner market to local doctors to government actions at all levels. Personal information is always at risk of identity misuse,” Lee said.

Here are five actions cybersecurity dab hands recommend you take now:

Freezing your credit resolve block access to your credit report and prevent anyone from opening new accounts in your name. Then, if someone fetches your Social Security number or other private information, they can’t take out a loan or open a credit pasteboard.

You must contact all of the three major credit reporting agencies — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — to freeze access to your confidence in with each. The process only takes a few minutes, and it’s free. Just make sure to temporarily unfreeze your rely on before you apply for a new credit card, loan, or mortgage.

Take the time to over again your credit reports from each of the credit reporting agencies to make sure there are no errors or devices of identity theft. You can get a free copy of your credit report from each of the bureaus weekly by going to annualcreditreport.com.

You may not dire to check your reports every week, but it’s important to review your credit history at least quarterly to make sure there are no issues.

If you don’t have one already, create a “My Social Security” account on the Public Security Administration’s website to check your earnings records, get estimates of your monthly retirement benefits and take care of current benefits. Review your statement, download a copy and contact the Social Security Administration if there are any wrong moves. Establish your account now to ensure no one else does so in your name. 

“Keeping a local backup of your Sexual Security statement, credit history [and] student loan payments is always a good idea, and doubly so as the future is unclear at so myriad of the administering agencies,” Emory Roane, associate director of policy at the non-profit Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, said in an emailed communiqu.

The IRS allows consumers to proactively request an identity protection PIN (IP PIN) — a unrivalled six-digit number — to use when filing your tax return. The IP PIN verifies your identity when you file an electronic or tract return. It prevents someone else from using your Social Security number to file a fake yield, possibly stealing your refund. 

McAfee’s Grobman recommends that consumers make sure that “attuned data that they have control of goes to the minimal number of places possible.” 

“Setting up multi-factor authentication, the diverse secure ID and PIN capabilities that the IRS offers, is absolutely critical to helping ensure that only you or your designated tax preparer is accessing that attuned information on government systems,” he said.

Create a “passkey” for any online account that tenders one for enhanced security. A passkey is a string of encrypted data that you can access with a face scan, fingerprint, or PIN. Use multi-factor authentication — similar kind a password plus a code — if you can’t add a passkey. Don’t reuse passwords.

SIGN UP: Money 101 is an 8-week culture course on financial freedom, delivered weekly to your inbox. Sign up here. It is also available in Spanish.