In a special report published December 8, 2020, WalletHub presented results of a survey entitled “2020’s States Most Vulnerable to Identity Theft & Fraud.” As part of the report, they questioned a number of cybersecurity experts, including NYU Tandon associate professor of computer science and engineering Justin Cappos, who offered advice on what individuals can do to guard against identity theft.

One particular place where Cappos urged caution was on social media. “People tend to link accounts together, so the theft of your Facebook account or similar may make it possible for a hacker to log into other sites as you,” he observes. In addition, “many sites have security questions you can use to help you recover a lost password. Be careful that this information (pet’s name, mother’s maiden name, favorite sports team, etc.) cannot be derived from your social media accounts.”

Read the full report, including more advice from Cappos, here.