HOW TO KEEP YOUR DATA SAFE

A few simple changes can help protect you and your information

Serious damage can in the wrong hands, occur when our private winds up information with scammers targeting innocent people in any way that they can.

The recent Optus and Medibank data breaches are more proof that widespread scams and fraud are mounting - and millions are getting caught in the middle. The Attorney-General's Department estimates that identity theft, scams and credit card fraud cost Australians $900 million a year.

However, there are extra steps we can take to protect ourselves. Here's how...

GET A PASSWORD MANAGER

Don't make it easy for scammers to guess. Did you know one of the most common passwords is the word "password"? Another common one? 123456. Granted, they are easy to remember and none us can expect to recall all our passwords. Luckily, there are some great password manager solutions on the market.

Finder.com.au compared several on the market and found LastPass to be an excellent and affordable cloud-based password manager, while 1Password was singled out for being a flexible password manager that's especially good for iPhone or Mac users. Both can generate passwords, as well as monitor accounts for security breaches.