Senior Safety Academy Teaches cyber security

Keith Bryant/The Weekly Vista Senior Safety Academy attendees speak with vendors during a break between speakers.
Keith Bryant/The Weekly Vista Senior Safety Academy attendees speak with vendors during a break between speakers.

The Senior and Law Enforcement Working Together council put together the senior safety academy at the Bella Vista Lutheran Church last Tuesday.

The academy started at 8 a.m. and went on until 4 p.m., covering a variety of topics pertinent to seniors -- including identity theft, scams, cyber security and crimes, prescription drug safety, driver safety, elder abuse and emergency services.

"These are very important topics," said Bella Vista's chief of police, Ken Farmer, who is also a member of the SALT council.

Cybercrime, for instance, is very important to discuss because computers are everywhere and tied up in everything, he said.

He estimated there were between 50 and 60 attendees. "I think we had a real good turnout," he said.

Attendee Mary Fish said she's lived in Bella Vista more than 23 years.

"It's been great so far," she said. "I'm very impressed that Bella Vista has all the wonderful things that the paramedics and police are talking about."

After listening to a presentation on cybercrime, she said that she was glad to be aware of specific issues, but she isn't surprised by them.

Most of what she heard only confirmed her suspicions, she said.

"I've always said for every good thing that's invented, someone comes up with a bad way to use it," Fish said.

Stephan Svetz, from the Arkansas Attorney General's Office, gave that presentation on cybercrime, and shared several tips to help keep people from becoming victims of fraud, scams and identity theft.

Getting any financial information in the mail, for instance, is something he said is extremely dangerous. Some thieves make their living pulling bank account information out of mailboxes and cashing fraudulent checks, he said.

"I pay everything that I can pay online," he said. "The most dangerous thing you can get in the mail is your bank statement."

Credit card applications, he said, should be shredded. Some identity thieves operate, he said, by pulling applications out of the trash, sometimes even taping them back together, and then sending them in and waiting at the addressee's home for a credit card, which they will then use to buy things.

Carrying a Social Security card, he said, is almost never beneficial, and always risky.

Identity thieves, he said, need several pieces of information to do anything, and a lost wallet with a driver's license and a Social Security card gives them a lot to work with.

Leaving a phone's wireless connection enabled when it's not in use, he said, is another risky move. Some devices can intercept signals when the phone is searching for a connection, and this lets the device snag personal information.

Additionally, passwords need to be varied, he said. If there's a security breach on one platform -- email, for instance -- a user who has the same password for everything will become vulnerable across all platforms, including their bank accounts.

Getting all of this information out, he said, is important. The more people there are who are aware of how to protect themselves, the fewer victims there will be.

"I think education is the best prevention," he said. "People don't know what's out there. Especially the seniors, they come from a different place. They come from a time when a handshake meant something."

General News on 10/26/2016