--- title: As AI Agents Go Rogue, Here Are 5 Tips to Protect Your Data and Your Money description: AI is making cyberattacks and scams harder to spot. Experts share five ways to protect your passwords, money, devices and personal data. authors: - name: Martha C. White role: Reporter url: https://money.com/author/martha-c-white/ education: BA, English, Princeton University at_money_since: 2015 articles: 363 covers: - Personal Finance - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Federal Reserve Rate Cuts - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology also_seen_in: - The New York Times - The Wall Street Journal - CNN - Kiplinger Personal Finance - Time social: - https://www.linkedin.com/in/martha-c-white/ editors: - name: Katherine Peach role: Associate Editor url: https://money.com/author/katherine-peach/ bio: Katherine Peach is an associate editor with a focus on news and email at Money. Her writing and editing work has been featured in Investing Daily, Clever, Investor Junkie, The Palm Beach Letter, Truth & Plenty, Independence Monthly, NICHE, AmericanStyle, AntiqueWeek, Millennial Money, Money Done Right, TheStreet, Sure Dividend and many others. education: University of Maryland, Baltimore County at_money_since: 2025 articles: 15 covers: - Personal Finance - Banking - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Federal Reserve Rate Cuts - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes published: '2026-11-06T15:00:26.000Z' section: Personal Finance tags: - News word_count: 1272 canonical: https://money.com/protect-yourself-ai-cyberattacks/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Robot toy stealing credit cards](https://img.money.com/2026/11/News-Ai-agents-data-keep-safe.jpg) Hackers exploit a newly detected [security flaw](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/23/php-vulnerabilities-ai-cybersecurity.html) in a program used by up to 70% of the world's websites. Malicious actors program internet-connected refrigerators [overheat](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/11/03/supermarket-fridges-hack-cyberattack-europe.html). Even cuddly looking personal AI agents go on [unauthorized](https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ai-agents-assistants-shopping-chat-errors-a316d3f9) spending sprees. All these scary headlines about semi-autonomous AI “agents” might have you tempted to unplug everything and run away to a cabin in the woods. But is this new technology really “breaking the internet,” as a recent [Inc. article](https://www.inc.com/jason-aten/ai-agents-are-breaking-the-internet-5-things-you-should-do-right-now-to-protect-yourself/91425988) proclaimed? No, digital security experts say. Risk has always been present in online activity, according to Michael Sherwood, vice president of product at cybersecurity company Malwarebytes. "What’s changed is how fast, convincing and cheap the scams and attacks have become, especially when aided by agentic AI,” he tells Money via email. Sherwood and other pros say there are steps you can take to make yourself and your data less vulnerable — no off-grid cabin required. ## The new rules for protecting yourself — and your data — online **Practice better password hygiene.** "AI-powered attacks reuse stolen credentials at machine speed," Sherwood writes, so unique passwords are more important than ever. If you don't already use one, experts say a [password manager](https://money.com/how-to-pick-password-manager/) is a must. But because clever cybercriminals can infiltrate passwords and even some forms of two-factor authentication, passkeys are the gold standard for keeping sensitive information out of bad actors' hands. These rely on a separate, trusted device — usually your cellphone — for verification. One more note on secure login credentials: Even if you know to avoid those social media quizzes that hoover up all sorts of security-question answers (i.e., “Your superhero name is your hometown plus your pet’s name! What’s yours?”), AI has supercharged the ability of impersonators to mine your digital footprint for personally identifiable information. Building a synthetic profile of your online identity used to have to be done manually. “Now, AI can do that in a fraction of a second,” says Robert Raymond, first vice president at HUB Private Client, an insurance provider for high-net-worth households. **Be suspicious of all unexpected outreach.** Most cyber scams and thefts succeed because someone is tricked into disclosing information. So-called social engineering attacks like spoofing and [phishing](https://money.com/scam-alert-microsoft-365-phishing/) — both variations of a bad actor pretending to be a person or institution you trust — are far and away the most commonly reported types of cybercrimes, according to FBI [data](https://www.ic3.gov/AnnualReport/Reports/2025_IC3Report.pdf). Josh Koenig, co-founder of website manager Pantheon, notes that AI can easily churn out credible-looking spoofs of legitimate websites, so relying on old “tells” like a wonky URL or poor grammar is no longer enough. Even small anomalies should give you pause if you receive, say, a request supposedly from your bank to verify account information. Likewise, unsolicited messages that convey a sense of urgency should be treated with suspicion. "Be on the lookout for pushy emails containing oddly formatted links, or sites with a glitchy user experience," Koenig says via email. Eva Velasquez, CEO of the nonprofit Identity Theft Resource Center, goes even further. "If you didn't initiate the contact, you really can’t trust the source," she says. If you get an unsolicited message that purports to be from, say, your credit card company, hang up and call the number on the back of your card, or open a new browser window, type in the company’s website and contact it from there. AI also makes it easier for crooks to fabricate urgent-sounding pleas from loved ones asking for money. When it comes to AI-generated voice and video [deepfakes](https://money.com/warren-buffett-deepfake-ai-risks/) of your friends and family, pros suggest having a code word to make sure you’re talking to the real deal. **Lock down your smart-home devices.** Aided by AI, the "internet of things" is another avenue for bad actors to exploit, as malicious tampering of refrigeration systems at supermarkets and even [blood banks](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/11/04/blood-bank-fridges-cyberattacks.html) in Europe illustrates. Your smart appliances and electronic devices could be similarly compromised. The FBI issued a [public service announcement](https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/cyber/alerts/2025/home-internet-connected-devices-facilitate-criminal-activity) last year warning Americans that hackers could exploit security vulnerabilities and break into devices on home wireless networks to spy on people, steal personal information or disseminate malware. Step one is making sure that your home Wi-Fi network is secure, Raymond says. Change the default passwords on your modem or router, as well as any smart devices or appliances. “In terms of the devices themselves, not all security is created equal,” he cautions. Your best bet is to ring-fence them by setting up a separate network. "I like to recommend that all those smart home components are on their own loop... maybe having two different routers distributing the signal," he advises. This makes it easier to monitor for spikes in data activity that could be a tip-off to tampering. And before you replace your fridge or thermostat, ask yourself: Do you need a “smart” version in the first place? “I think less is more right now,” Raymond says. **Be selective about sharing your information.** "Don’t enter personal information that isn’t needed," Sherwood advises. "Most sites don’t need your real birthday, your phone number~**,**~ or your home address. Those are strong things to protect." For instance, if you’re shopping on a website you don’t typically use, don’t let it automatically save your address and payment information. Retyping those details is a small hassle that can save you big headaches if the site suffers a data breach. Likewise, a growing number of payment card issuers now give you the option to purchase using a one-time, temporary card number that can keep you from having to input your actual digits. This need for vigilance is especially true when you're dealing with an AI platform. Most chatbots and agents feed user prompts into its training dataset. “That means your data is put into its backend,” Raymond points out, which could leave it exposed in the event of a breach. "We don't know the depth of the security vulnerabilities when you take the AI ecosystem as a whole," he notes. **Don't give personal AI agents too much information (or don't use them at all).** Digital security experts aren't big fans of personal agents in general, and giving them access to any part of your financial life should be a hard no, Velasquez says. "We’re discouraging people from connecting any kind of financial accounts whatsoever," she says. At least one mega-bank agrees. In a recent email to customers, Bank of America noted that AI can make activities like banking more convenient, but can introduce new risks. “\[Y\]our username and password should never be shared with another person or provided to an outside service, including an AI-enabled tool or agent that offers to act on your behalf,” the notice advised. Velasquez says the fast-growing popularity of AI agents is a risk because most casual users don't fully understand the potential consequences if an agent gets something wrong. When it comes to agents, consumer protections like being able to get a chargeback for an unauthorized purchase don’t apply, she warns. "Once you give them a prompt that says buy this, book this, do this, you’re giving them the authority to act without you being part of the decision-making process," she says. The upshot: “The agent is you. You are liable.” But if you must use one, Velasquez advises following this rule of thumb: Direct the agent to do research or find things, but don't give it authority to actually execute tasks. "There are numerous unintended consequences," she says. AI has a tendency to produce unexpected or unwanted outcomes — which can be bad news when it comes to your money. "I understand people love the ease, but it’s just not worth the risk," she says. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/protect-yourself-ai-cyberattacks/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Personal Finance", "item": "https://money.com/personal-finance/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "News", "item": "https://money.com/tag/news/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "As AI Agents Go Rogue, Here Are 5 Tips to Protect Your Data and Your Money" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/protect-yourself-ai-cyberattacks/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/protect-yourself-ai-cyberattacks/", "name": "As AI Agents Go Rogue, Here Are 5 Tips to Protect Your Data and Your Money", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2026-11-06T15:00:26.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/protect-yourself-ai-cyberattacks/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/protect-yourself-ai-cyberattacks/#breadcrumb" } }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "As AI Agents Go Rogue, Here Are 5 Tips to Protect Your Data and Your Money", "articleSection": "Personal Finance", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2026/11/News-Ai-agents-data-keep-safe.jpg", "width": 2880, "height": 1920, "caption": "News-Ai-agents-data-keep-safe" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Martha C. 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