Why Should I Secure My Accounts?

Companies such as Equifax, Facebook, Home Depot, Marriott, Target, and Yahoo have all had data breaches and password leaks in the last decade. If you have online accounts, hackers have most certainly compromised at least one of them. Do you want to discover which of your accounts have been hacked? Have I Been Pwned? allows you to cross-reference your email address with hundreds of data breaches by searching for it.

Using a password manager to establish and remember unique, complicated passwords for each account – this is the single most critical thing individuals can do today to preserve their privacy and security. LastPass and 1Password are two heavy duty password managers used by professionals. Both can generate passwords, monitor accounts for security breaches, recommend password changes, and sync your passwords across your computer and phone. Password managers may appear difficult to set up, but once installed, you may just browse the Internet as usual. The password manager stores your passwords when you log in to accounts and proposes changing weak or duplicate passwords. You wind up having new passwords for the majority of your accounts within a few weeks. Using autofill to fill in your information can also help dodge sneaker bots and keyloggers from stealing your information. Using Two-Factor Authentication can also be a major deal breaker when protecting your data as it protects your accounts from being accessed by anyone even if they have your password. Two-Factor Authentication binds your phone number with your account and one can only access it if through a One Time Password (OTP).