How to Keep Your Online Accounts Safe and Secure

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We live in an age where almost everything we do is done online. We receive work-related emails, pay bills, enjoy entertainment, do our banking, and even turn the lights and heating in our home on from a computer or a smartphone. Having such flexibility is good because it frees up much-needed and wanted spare time, but living our lives online comes with an element of risk, usually from unscrupulous individuals hoping to hack into your accounts and take control of them. Here is how you stop them.

Strong, Unique Passwords for Every Account

The sheer number of people that neglect online security is both baffling and worrying in equal measure. There is no excuse for doing so. You would not walk into your bank and allow everyone to watch as you entered your PIN into the ATM and then show them the inner workings of your accounts, would you? So why do so many people use the same, relatively easy-to-guess password for all their accounts?

Ideally, you want a different password for all your online accounts. It does not matter if you are watching Netflix, comparing insurance products, or enjoying the top betting apps for Americans; there is no excuse for using the same password everywhere. Should a hacker obtain your password, they have your entire life in their hands.

Never use a password that is personal to you. For example, your kids’ names and date of birth, your nickname, or your pet’s names. Your passwords should be at least eight digits long, be a mixture of lower and uppercase, and contain at least one special symbol. The more digits you enter, the harder the password is to crack. Obviously, having a string of gibberish as a password makes it difficult to remember. This is why you can use the built-in password manager in Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox or a third-party app such as LastPass or Bitwarden.

Set Up Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) if Available

We cannot stress enough how crucial two-factor authentication (2FA) is when you are accessing your online accounts. Always activate 2FA if it is available. This is when the website sends you a text message with a unique code that must be entered in addition to your password. Some send you an email with a one-time passcode, so ensure that your email account is secured with a super-strong password. 2FA makes it more challenging to hack into your account, but receiving a one-time code when you are not personally trying to access an account lets you know that someone is attempting to get into it.

There are several authentication apps available, including Google Authenticator, that do a stellar job of 2FA. These apps continually create random codes for you and are linked to your account. You need to enter the number within a short time limit to gain access to your online account.

Consider Using a VPN

A VPN or Virtual Private Network is great to have, especially if you access the internet away from your private home network. How often have you checked confidential work emails from the free WiFi in a coffee shop? You cannot guarantee that networks you do not own have strong security, so anyone with relative know-how can snoop on your data.

Using a VPN is simple; they are usually activated with one or two mouse clicks. VPNs work as a middleman in that all the data your device sends goes through the VPN’s servers, where it is encrypted to such a level that it is impossible to crack before that encrypted data arrives at its destination. There are several other uses for a VPN, including making it appear you are accessing a website from a different city or country and gaining access to blocked and restricted websites. However, the encryption service alone is worth the small fee VPN countries charge. Most offer their services for the price of a take-out coffee per month.

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