Passwords are the easiest way for criminals to gain access to your online accounts, due to ever-increasing complexity requirements on systems and websites, it\u2019s often easier to use the same password in multiple places often with a common word that is easy to guess.<\/p>\n
If you use the same (or similar) passwords across multiple systems and websites or base your password on information about you such as the names of your children, pets or spouse, you should start using a password manager (Check your IT Security policy first). Managers such as LastPass \u2013 https:\/\/lastpass.com<\/a> will allow you to have secure, unique passwords on every website.<\/p>\n If your IT Security policy doesn\u2019t allow online password managers, KeePass \u2013 https:\/\/keepass.info<\/a> is a secure, offline password database, you will need to make sure you back this up safely and securely.<\/p>\n An area that is often overlooked is the password reset questions, default questions such as \u201cWhat is your mother\u2019s maiden name?\u201d <\/i>or \u201cWhat is the name of your pet?\u201d<\/i> are extremely easy to find out with a small amount of research on social media. Make sure your password reset questions are based on information that isn\u2019t available online<\/b> or to anyone that knows you, make up fake answers that are different for each site and store them in your password manager.<\/p>\n Two-factor (or multi-factor) authentication (2FA\/MFA) is used when you log on to an online service, after you\u2019ve typed your password in, the website will require another form of authentication such as a code sent to your phone via SMS. You should enable this on all your online accounts.<\/b><\/p>\n Apps such as \u2018Microsoft Authenticator\u2019 and \u2018Google Authenticator\u2019 make this process even simpler by providing a simple \u201caccept login\u201d button on your phone when you log in to a website or service.<\/p>\n A \u2018phishing\u2019 email is an email that tricks you into giving away details such as your username or password \u2013 91% of successful data breaches started with a phishing email.<\/p>\n Make sure you hover over links in emails<\/b> before you click them; www.facebook.com<\/a> and www.facebook.com<\/a> go to two different places!<\/p>\n Be aware of any email that asks you to perform an urgent action with consequences: \u201cclick here now or lose access to your account\u201d<\/i> is a good example of this.<\/p>\n Check the sender of the email, is the domain what you were expecting? look for similar sounding names such as email@faceb00k.com<\/i> or email@Mlcrosoft.com<\/i><\/p>\n Ransomware is the biggest cyber threat facing businesses today, damage of around $5bn was done this year alone. Most of this damage was avoidable if computer systems were updated to the latest version, always install updates on your system as soon as they are available.<\/b><\/p>\n2 Two-Factor Authentication<\/span><\/h3>\n
3 Email<\/span><\/h3>\n
4 Updates<\/span><\/h3>\n
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