{"id":2489,"date":"2019-12-06T20:45:05","date_gmt":"2019-12-06T20:45:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/engineering\/ABE\/INPREPared\/?p=2489"},"modified":"2020-01-08T21:28:28","modified_gmt":"2020-01-08T21:28:28","slug":"winter-holiday-personal-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/engineering\/ABE\/INPREPared\/winter-holiday-personal-safety\/","title":{"rendered":"Winter Holiday Personal Safety"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Source:  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.in.gov\/dhs\/\">Indiana Department of Homeland Security<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cybercriminals, thieves, and road hazards can become real-life Scrooges this time of the year. Take some time to review safety tips that can help keep the season festive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Online Shopping<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Shopping online can be a great tool in finding the perfect\nholiday gifts. For the 2019 holiday season, 73 percent of consumers plan to use\nsmartphones or tablets to research and make shopping purchases, according to a\nNational Retail Federation survey. Review the following tips about staying safe\nonline before clicking on the checkout button.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Email advertising and spam traffic may increase\nduring the holiday season. If the subject of an email from a known or unknown\nsender seems suspicious, delete the email without opening it.<\/li><li>If an advertisement or other offer sounds too\ngood to be true, it may be. Check it out through a reliable source.<\/li><li>Keep security software updated on every\nelectronic device.<\/li><li>Avoid shopping on public Wi-Fi connections or\npublic computers. It\u2019s hard to ensure they are secure.<\/li><li>Use complex passwords to safeguard personal\ninformation. A combination of upper- and lower-case letters, numbers and\nspecial characters offers the most protection.<\/li><li>Avoid visiting unknown webpages because\nmalicious software could be downloaded.<\/li><li>When making online purchases with a credit or\ndebit card, use a secure online escrow broker to provide payment.<\/li><li>If available, consider using a virtual credit\ncard service. The terms of use vary based on the service provider.<\/li><li>Make sure to print or save a hard copy of every\ntransaction receipt in the event there is confusion about payment.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Home Safety<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jack Frost isn\u2019t the only one tapping on the window. A 2019\nC+R Research report found that 36 percent of Americans have had a package\nstolen at least once, and about half of those surveyed said they are worried\nabout a package being stolen this holiday season. Safeguard against possible thefts\nby following these tips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Try not to leave multiple or large packages\noutside for long time periods. Stay home when a delivery is expected, or have a\npackage delivered to a friend or family member who can receive it immediately.<\/li><li>Consider installing a doorbell camera.<\/li><li>Ask the delivery service to try to hide the\npackage or hold it for pickup later.<\/li><li>Do not leave presents near windows or doors\nwhere thieves can see them.<\/li><li>When leaving the home, lock every door and\nwindow to make it more difficult for thieves to break in and commit a burglary.<\/li><li>When away from home for an extended period, ask\na trusted friend or neighbor to visit the house for some time every day. Also\ncheck with the local police department to see if officers can keep an eye on\nthe house.<\/li><li>Remember to ask for daily newspaper and mail\ndelivery to be stopped if traveling for a long period of time.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Traveling<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before going over the river and through the woods this\nholiday season, review some traveling safety tips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Keep track of weather and road conditions through local radio, news channels or social media postings. Other resources include the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.in.gov\/dhs\/traveladvisory\/\">Indiana Travel Advisory Map<\/a> and the Indiana Department of Transportation\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.in.gov\/indot\/2420.htm\">travel information page<\/a>. The advisory map and an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.in.gov\/indot\/3672.htm\">INDOT Mobile app<\/a> are also available on Android and Apple devices.<\/li><li>If traveling by vehicle, have a mechanic complete a vehicle inspection before the planned departure.<\/li><li>If traveling with children, remind them not to speak to strangers and to keep a responsible adult with them at all times.<\/li><li>Pets should always be kept in their carriers or secured on a leash to prevent escape.<\/li><li>Have a fully-stocked emergency vehicle kit.<\/li><li>If something appears suspicious immediately, report it to law enforcement.<\/li><li>Never drive after consuming any alcohol. Call a taxi, designate a sober driver or stay the night to prevent accidents.<\/li><\/ul>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source: Indiana Department of Homeland Security Cybercriminals, thieves, and road hazards can become real-life Scrooges this time of the year. Take some time to review safety tips that can help keep the season festive. Online Shopping Shopping online can be a great tool in finding the perfect holiday gifts. For the 2019 holiday season, 73&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2490,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news_blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/engineering\/ABE\/INPREPared\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/engineering\/ABE\/INPREPared\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/engineering\/ABE\/INPREPared\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/engineering\/ABE\/INPREPared\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/engineering\/ABE\/INPREPared\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2489"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/engineering\/ABE\/INPREPared\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2493,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/engineering\/ABE\/INPREPared\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2489\/revisions\/2493"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/engineering\/ABE\/INPREPared\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/engineering\/ABE\/INPREPared\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/engineering\/ABE\/INPREPared\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/engineering\/ABE\/INPREPared\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}