Selling your house is almost always a stressful and overwhelming time. We worry about the disruption it causes in our lives, the difficulty of packing, and the mental toll of the constant work. This can last for months, even after completing the move. What we tend to underestimate are the dangers it can introduce to our sensitive personal and financial information.
Since moving involves so much disorganisation, it can become the perfect time for cybercriminals to strike. Understanding potential threats is crucial, so addressing them before and during the move is of the utmost importance. Thankfully, with a few key steps, it’s a process you can complete safely and comfortably.
The Selling Process
Selling introduces some key vulnerabilities that you should be concerned about. The first of these stems from making your home visible on the internet. Traditional real estate systems will typically display your home openly on a website, which might make it easy to locate. If the images of your home are suitably enticing, it might be targeted by thieves, especially if you’re away checking out other properties. Avoiding this problem means carefully checking the reputation of each agent. From here, you can see if any other customers have had similar problems.
It’s also possible to avoid this potential problem by using modern online systems when selling property. Cash home buyers bypass making your home visible to the public and provide free offers that maintain your privacy during quick sales. You can also verify these companies yourself by searching if they’re registered members of the NAPD and regulated members of TPOS. Combined with online reviews, this method can be quick, safe, and foolproof.
Your Physical Hardware
The move itself can similarly introduce dangers if there is any risk of theft for your computers or storage drives. This also applies to your online accounts being broken into. Protecting your computers requires only some basic steps. The first of which is placing a unique password lock on your computer before you can log in. This can help reduce immediate break-ins, which brings us to the next point.
Tracking software for desktops and laptops works as a kind of GPS. This essentially lets your computer contact your phone or email whenever it logs into a new network. From here, you can detect its physical location. If it ends up resold in a pawn shop, you could retrieve it or let the police know. In extreme cases, it’s even possible to wipe the computer, making any data on it unusable. Combine this with backing up key data beforehand, and the threat of data theft or loss is minimized. You could also include a physical tracking device, like an AirTag. Hidden within the system, this would have the same effect for tracking.
While there is no way to completely guarantee your data is safe when you move, a few basic steps are all you need to cover the most common vulnerabilities. Be proactive, even if it requires some research beforehand, and the stress reduction it produces is more than worth the investment. This way, when you finally do arrive in your new home, you’ll have more energy to spend on the really important things.
