Secure your personal life
The ever-growing and evolving technology our society has spawned on this spinning rock we call Earth allows us to navigate our daily lives far easier than ever before. And, funnily enough, many things that can make our lives easier can all be contained, compacted and carried in our pockets. The times are indeed a-changin’, folks.
But with these changing times involving technology spearheading many facets of our day-to-day lives, it has also made things easier for the more nefarious. Some of us survived the scammers and snake oil salesmen of previous decades unscathed, but the new age we live in that has the potential to make lives easier can also make them a lot harder.
Having an online presence in any capacity, no matter how big or small, could possibly put your information at risk. Two-factor authentication, sometimes called two-step verification, is designed to help protect your data, accounts, and passwords from cybercriminals, hackers, and other forms of security breaches.
And before you sigh heavily, trust us, we know. Sometimes the addition of more security can be annoying—but not nearly as annoying as your information falling into the wrong hands or your accounts getting shut down.
Professional security
It should be noted that many professional settings and companies globally are required under industry standards to have extra security like two-factor authentication. Healthcare, finance, law enforcement, military, and government are just a few. But even if you are not in any business under those umbrellas, extra security is still a good idea.
Preventing access to your personal information and passwords online is always a good idea, but for keeping your business and its sites safe and secure these days, 2FA is almost no longer a mere suggestion—it’s a requirement. Having your professional data, information, and accounts accessed without authorization can cause hours, weeks, or even months of heartache trying to get your accounts reactivated and, in some cases, rebuilt from the ground up.
Hacks and breaches can happen to websites, software, apps, and social media platforms. It not only happens in all these places, but it also happens often. Taking a few extra steps to ensure the platforms you’ve built stay safe is a great way to keep the future bright and free from struggling to wrestle your site or servers away from the prying hands of an entrepreneurial hacker, something that not only would cost many hours, weeks, or months of stress and anxiety—but also cost. We’re talking the good old dollars and cents that makes the spinning rock I mentioned earlier go round. Not only the cost of merely rebuilding or repairing the damage done after a data breach, but also the cost of the breach itself. As most hackers aren’t just hacking for kicks like they were depicted in a few films from the 80s, their targets are selected for a few reasons such as size and laxed security, but the main reason is money.
The price tag on trying to fix the things hackers break can be high, but financial losses and downtime a breach can cause can be devastating to any business.
Enduring an extra minute for a lot of extra security to safeguard your business doesn’t sound too bad, huh?
Safeguards
There are many security software options out there for storing passwords, like 1Password, which stores your passwords and passkeys all in one secure place—although maybe not put the password for that on a sticky note, or something…
For anyone who hasn’t used 2FA before, here’s a few things to remember and take note of.
- If someone accesses your email, they can reset passwords for other platforms. Enable 2FA on all email accounts (personal & business)
- Hackers frequently target social media accounts to spread spam, phishing links, or misinformation. Enable 2FA on all social media accounts.
- Enable 2FA on financial accounts
- Use a password manager to generate and store unique passwords like 1password.com or Lastpass.com
- Regularly review and update account passwords.
- Educate employees or family members about online security risks.
- Monitor accounts for unusual activity and enable login alerts to notify you immediately if there’s foul play.
- Keep software and devices updated with the latest security patches.
- Back up important data regularly on cloud services like Google Drive or Dropbox and ensure 2FA is enabled. Or use a separate hard drive.
