Q: Is there anything that the public can do to protect themselves if they respond online?

The Census Bureau works with the federal intelligence community and industry experts to stay abreast of emerging cyber threats to continuously update protections and safeguards for your information.

Yet, there are several online threats that are outside of our control, and we are working diligently to build awareness about these threats. Therefore we are asking the public to take some simple actions to protect yourself online, whether that be answering the 2020 Census or any other online activity.

To begin, it is important to know that the Census Bureau will not send unsolicited emails to request your participation in the 2020 Census. Further, during the 2020 Census, the Census Bureau will never ask for your Social Security number, bank account or credit card numbers, or money or donations. So, if someone contacts you via email or phone and asks for any of those details, it would be a tip-off to a scam.

If you do receive an email that appears to be from the Census Bureau, don’t open any attachments or links in those emails. One of the most common ways people become victims of a cyber attack is through emails disguised as being sent by someone you trust.

In mid-March, you will receive an invitation to participate in the 2020 Census. For many of you, it will include a URL for you to type into your browser that will bring you to the secure website where you can answer the 2020 Census questionnaire online.

We plan on working with the U.S. Postal Service to stagger the delivery of these invitations over several days. This way, we can spread out the number of users responding online, and we’ll be able to serve you better if you need help over the phone.

It is important that you only use that trusted web address to be sure you are visiting the correct site to respond to the 2020 Census. You will note that the URL will start with “https://,” with an “s”, which indicates it’s a secure site.

Visit www.2020census.gov to find out when and how to fill out the 2020 Census.