3 Small Things You Can Do to Drastically Increase Your Personal Security
To the uninitiated and otherwise technologically challenged, the realm of cybersecurity may seem like an unfathomable abyss of information and best practices. Where to begin? And is it worth the extra time and effort? There is no need, however, for the average citizen to plumb the depths of the answers to these questions, because luckily, there are three quick and easy ways to dramatically lower your likelihood of falling prey to a cyber attack.
- Use a password manager
It’s time to upgrade from your desktop post-it note or Word document. A password manager will assign strong and unique passwords to every site and app requiring you to log in, while storing and remembering them all for you as well. Chrome, Edge, and Firefox have them built in to their browsers now, which is a good start, but apps like LastPass, 1Password, and Keeper will sync across platforms, devices, and operating systems. There is a small fee associated with some of them, and some offer more than just password management, but it’s really up to you how in-depth you want to go. The important thing is that you use one.
2. Use multi-factor authentication
Basically, there are three types of authentication factors: something you know (i.e. a password), something you have (i.e. a smartphone), and something you are (i.e. a fingerprint). Requiring more than one of these to log in to your accounts makes hacking into them significantly more difficult, but is actually relatively simple to set up. Google and Microsoft both offer free authenticator apps, while LastPass offers this service along with its password manager. Authy is another option that offers the additional convenience of saving your authentication tokens to the cloud rather than requiring the use of QR codes like the rest of these.
3. Don’t put off updates
Ok, we’ve all been there; your system notifies you that you need to restart your computer so the new updates it’s initiated can finish installing. Not now, you think, I’m right in the middle of something, and you click “Remind me later.” The problem with this is that often those updates install the patches necessary to protect you from known vulnerabilities. The longer you go without updating, the weaker your system will be. It isn’t difficult to take a second to at least schedule a reboot for a time when you know you’ll be away from your computer, and it could make all the difference.
Ultimately, nothing we do online is 100% secure. However, these tactics can make it significantly more so by increasing the amount of time and effort a hacker would need to get to your personal information. Don’t let your accounts be the low-hanging fruits that require very little effort to pick off!
