Did you know that October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month?

We have kept you up to date with our management of continued business operations, highlighting both our remote and on-site team working in harmony to keep our day-to-day running smoothly to serve you.

However, these digital times, have also been seen by hackers as an opportunity to capture your sensitive information.  Fraud attempts are a reality for everyone, they are both ever changing and take various forms.  Keeping your information secure is a top priority for Atlas. During this time we would like to remind you about communication practices of Atlas as well as provide important material on helpful practices.

Your Atlas Private Wealth Management Advisor and team will NEVER send an e-mail or text asking you for sensitive information including but not limited to account details or login credentials. In addition, we will NEVER use those means of communication to ask for or capture your Social Security Number. It is possible, however, that you may be asked for an additional verification step via email or text if using any online tools associated with our business that require multiple levels of revalidation of your identity.  This is only for your safety. If you receive any communication purporting to be from Atlas, or related to your Atlas relationship, which concerns you in any way… please contact your Atlas Private Wealth Management Advisor or team member immediately.

Businesses may be targeted with fraudulent threats as well. It is important to remind you that if an Atlas team member receives a new request by email to transfer  funds from your account, you will receive a follow up phone call for verification. This is why having your most up-to-date information is important. Contacting you directly allows us to validate whether or not the request came from you, or a suspicious actor. While it may seem tedious at times, it is a safety precaution designed to protect you.

As many businesses have leaned further into the use of web-based applications, you may have noticed an increased volume of e-mail, phone, or text messages, which may appear to come from a legitimate source such as a friend, colleague, or merited business institution but, in fact, are not. Moreover, links within e-mails purporting to be from a familiar source are often an attempt at phishing.

What is Phishing?

Phishing is the attempt to procure an individual’s personal information by appearing to be a legitimate source, which often includes a familiar name. These may be very smart programs and require you to be vigilant when assessing communications.

One way to that may help sort out your trusted sources versus the fraudsters is by saving your Atlas Wealth Management Advisor and team member’s e-mail addresses, and contact number.

A second way is to hold your cursor over or double click on the e-mail sender’s name to validate the address. The practice of hovering your cursor over an address can be used on external links included in an e-mail as well.

If you suspect that your email or any other account has been compromised call your Atlas team immediately. 

We have included this resource from Fidelity with more tips for your cyber safety: Make Yourself a Difficult Target for Cyber Criminals article.  Remember to hover your cursor over the link before you click.   Do not hesitate to contact us with questions about how we seek to secure your information or how you can better protect yourself.