What are your New Year’s resolutions for 2022? There are a lot of options, of course, but one many people overlook concerns their cybersecurity.
This year, take some time to check in and update your cybersecurity practices. If you’re wondering where to start, take a look at your accounts and passwords; every password for all of your various accounts should be unique. You should never reuse a password, since one security breach could jeopardize all accounts that “share” that password.
Not only should all of your passwords be unique, they should also be strong. Making sure all of your passwords are difficult to guess ensures that your individual accounts are protected against hacking, whether by someone going through trial and error, or a bot using brute force tactics. You don’t necessarily need to create these passwords yourself; instead, you can use a password manager to generate new, strong passwords for accounts, and to save all of your passwords in one easy-to-access location.
It’s not enough to rely on strong, unique passwords, however. For all accounts that support it, you should use two-factor authentication (2FA). When you set up 2FA, you add an extra layer of security to your accounts; once you enter the correct password, the service sends a code to a trusted device, app, or phone number. That code is your key into the account, and prevents bad actors with knowledge of your passwords from breaking into your accounts.
