Kids can be victims of identity fraud, too. Here's a way to protect them, and you can try it for free
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Your online life is complicated. You’ve probably signed up for what feels like millions of sites—and that means remembering an endless amount of log-in information. But even that is not so cut and dried.
For instance, maybe you’re subscribed to some services that only you use. But if you have a spouse, kids, and even parents in your care, the rest is a series of shared log-ins or separate usernames and passwords for each account, from Facebook and Netflix to online bank accounts and e-medical records. It’s dizzying—and it’s also a potential recipe for identity theft.
Right now is a “perfect storm” for online fraud
In uncertain times like these, when the new norm is anything but normal, you’re especially vulnerable to online fraud. Frankly, the pandemic “terrifies everyone,” said Adam Levin, cyber security expert and founder of CyberScout, to Yahoo Life. “Combine this with the fact that you have people operating in a totally new environment...working from home. And they are sharing devices in many cases with other family members, and in particular, kids.”
Levin calls the current climate in the U.S.—and all the important issues we’re addressing, from the pandemic to social unrest—”a perfect storm for scammers.”
But even in a less eventful year, identity theft is a massive concern. About one in 15 Americans were victims of identity fraud in 2017, according to Identity Force, and one million of those victims were children. This kind of devastating data breach cost a cumulative $540 million, as well as obvious emotional distress, as three quarters of victims confirmed.
Compromised passwords are a leading cause of identity theft
Recycled passwords are one of the paths of least resistance for hackers. In fact, in 2019, a major data breach at Microsoft revealed that 44 million user accounts were vulnerable because of reused passwords, according to Forbes. The key is to “minimize your risk of exposure and reduce your attackable surface, Levin said, and part of that is using smart passwords.
The FTC strongly suggests creating “long and strong” passwords for optimal online security—but of course, those are easy to forget.
LastPass Families is your one-stop shop for password security
That’s why a password manager like LastPass Families is pretty much a no-brainer, Levin told Yahoo Life. “A password manager is a good thing for people who have a tendency to use the same password everywhere. The only thing you have to remember is the password to your password manager.”
That’s LastPass Families in a nutshell. The industry’s leading password manager, LastPass, created this unique product with busy households in mind—and each family member gets their own account for storing passwords. It’s the safest way to store, share, and secure passwords for everything from your kids’ e-learning accounts to your parents’ credit card accounts.
Save big by investing in LastPass Families today. You can try if for free for 30 days, and after that it’s $3.99 per month. That’s one dollar off the usual price of $4.99 per month, a special offer that’s exclusive to Yahoo.
Shop it: LastPass Families, free for 30 days, then $3.99 per month, subscriptions.yahoo.com
So how does LastPass Families work?
LastPass Families, like all password managers from LastPass, is a sophisticated piece of software that creates, stores, and secures your passwords—then syncs them across all your family’s devices. Yep, every single one, from tablets to smartphones.
Pay for one LastPass Families membership, and each family member gets their own unique account to store passwords—and they can choose which passwords they want to share with loved ones they trust. LastPass Families can generate random, rock-solid passwords—according to the FTC stringent, hacker-proof requirements—for each account. Or, users can choose to create their own or store existing passwords.
Either way, no one in the family will ever have to worry about forgetting, losing, or mistyping a password again. LastPass Families automatically logs in each user to any website from any device.
Now is the perfect time to protect your entire family. While you can’t put a price on the security of knowing your entire family is safe from cyber fraud, 30 free days and $3.99 a month is worth it for that kind of peace of mind.
Shop it: LastPass Families, free for 30 days, then $3.99 per month, subscriptions.yahoo.com
Read more from Yahoo Life:
Pandemic-related identity theft is spiking: Here are 5 crucial ways to protect yourself
Online shoppers have lost millions to fraud during lockdown: 'Enormous vulnerability'
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