Changing your password every ninety days is not on this list. Nor are fake cameras, beware-of-the-dog signs or paid identity monitoring. What is here is what the evidence supports.
Ten measures. Most cost nothing. Tick what you already have.Sources: Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report 2025; FBI IC3 public service announcement on end-of-life routers, May 2025; CISA Project Upskill and #StopRansomware guidance; Blevins KR and Kuhns JB, Understanding Decisions to Burglarize from the Offender’s Perspective, University of North Carolina at Charlotte; Bureau of Justice Statistics, Victims of Identity Theft. Full discussion in passwords, two-factor, routers, credit freezes and burglary.
Before you rely on this
This is a reference, not a verdict. It works from published rules and published research, applied to the handful of things you typed in. Real situations turn on details it never sees — whose name is on what, how a document is worded, which rules apply where you live, the specific facts of your case, and factors nobody has measured yet. A different answer from a professional who can see all of it is the one to trust.
Averages are not predictions. Where a figure here comes from a study, it describes what happened to a group of people on average. It does not say what will happen to you. An average is the right tool for deciding what to change and the wrong tool for deciding what is going to happen.
Nothing here is advice. Not financial, legal, medical, insurance or safety advice, and using this page creates no professional relationship of any kind. The sources are linked so you can check them yourself. For a decision that matters, ask someone who is accountable for the answer.