How to protect yourself online

The Internet has made our lives easier - from research to shopping to managing our finances, it's all online for our convenience. At the same time, however, cyber criminals are taking advantage of the ease of the Internet by creating new ways to steal access to our personal information.

At JPMorganChase, we use a variety of technologies and techniques to help ensure that our products and services are secure. There are a few steps you can take to keep your personal information secure and out of the hands of cyber criminals.

• Do what you can to prevent unauthorized people from using your personal computer (PC).
• Log off or lock your workstation whenever you leave your computer.
• Change your passwords often. Be sure to choose passwords that are hard for others to guess.
• Don't give your passwords to anyone. And don't record your passwords in an easy-to-find place.
• If you notice suspicious activity in your accounts, report it immediately to the appropriate parties.
• Install anti-virus, anti-spyware, and other internet security software on your PC. Use it regularly and keep it up-to-date.
• Be leery of e-mails you receive from people you don't know, and don't open any attachments they may contain. When in doubt, delete the message without opening it.
• Take advantage of your PC's security features and make sure you keep your operating system up-to-date.
• Install a PC firewall. Some computer operating systems have built-in firewalls. Ensure that yours is turned on. If your computer Operating System does not have a built-in firewall, your ISP may offer a firewall or you can purchase firewall software or hardware from a vendor.
• Make sure your browser uses the strongest encryption available and be aware of the encryption levels of the sites and applications you use.
• Be cautious when downloading and running programs or Java or ActiveX applets as they may contain unsecure data which cannot be filtered, for example, using firewall or anti-spyware software.
• Use only software from reliable vendors.
• If you have a wireless router at home, be sure you have changed the default password on the router to a password that would be difficult for others to guess.
• Choose a name and a password for your wireless network that is difficult to guess.
• Follow the instructions with your wireless router or contact your wireless router vendor for information on how to strengthen the security of your wireless network.
• Scan your computer at least weekly for known spyware and viruses.

Also, be aware of a growing email scam called "phishing." Phishers use spam to trick email users into providing bank account information, Social Security numbers, credit card numbers or online passwords over email. The sender usually appears to be from a legitimate email address, but the criminal phishers are only trying to gather the access information to steal from individual consumers. Never provide personal information in response to an unsolicited email.

• We only use email addresses to send updates regarding your retirement plan.
• We never sell email addresses and only use email for business reasons.
• We do not send emails asking you to share personal information.
• We do not send emails threatening to close your account if you do not take immediate action of providing personal information.
• We do not share your name with any contacts outside our firm in a manner inconsistent with JPMorgan corporate policy.

Again, please use care when reading emails. If you receive an email that claims it is from JPMorganChase, and you think the email is suspicious, immediately forward it to abuse@chase.com. Never reply to, click on or enter any information into a suspicious email.