You can maintain security against unauthorized attempts by outside parties to access your data and safeguard your privacy from people you don’t want to share your information with by making a few straightforward modifications to your devices and accounts. It’s simple to start. Here is a guide to the quick and easy modifications you may make to safeguard your online identity and personal data.
We open more accounts as we increasingly live our lives online. Our internet accounts house a lot of crucial and private data, including banking, social media, and email. Although it may seem pointless to worry about the security of your online accounts, it is crucial to remember that the more you safeguard your accounts, the more you are protecting yourself. Find seven quick steps to secure online accounts below.
Why Protect Your Accounts?
Data breaches and password leaks have affected organizations like Equifax, Facebook, Home Depot, Marriott, Target, Yahoo, and numerous more in the last ten years. If you have any online accounts, it’s likely that at least one of them has had data stolen by hackers. Are you interested in learning which of your accounts have been compromised? To compare your email address with hundreds of data breaches, type your email address into Have I Been Pwned?
How To Secure Online Accounts?
The most effective way for people to safeguard their privacy and security today is to utilize a password manager to create and remember unique, complicated passwords for every account. The password managers that Wirecutter prefers the most are LastPass and 1Password. Both have the ability to generate passwords, keep an eye out for security lapses, recommend altering passwords that are too simple, and sync passwords across your computer and phone. Although installing password managers can be daunting, once you’ve done so, you can just continue using the Internet as normal.
The password manager records your passwords as you log in to accounts and proposes updating weak or repeated passwords. You wind up with new passwords for the majority of your accounts after a few weeks. Change the default passwords for any home appliances that still use “password” or “1234” as their passwords, such as smart light bulbs, security cameras, and home routers.
1. Create Secure Passwords To Safeguard Your Online Accounts
Creating strong, secure passwords is one of the best things you can do to protect your online accounts, despite the fact that it may seem like a simple task. Make sure your passwords don’t hold any special meaning for you; while this helps you remember them, it also makes them more prone to being guessed.
2. All Of The Following Criteria Should Be Met With A Strong Password:
1. If you use a password generator, it must have a minimum of 8–12 characters; if you write it yourself, it must have 12–14 characters.
2. Include both uppercase and lowercase letters, special characters, and a mix of numerals.
3. Contains no true words or phrases that could be quickly identified.
Think about how easily the words couple together when considering guessable words or phrases. MyPassword, for instance, has ten characters, yet the two words work well together. According to the Password Strength Test, an offline quick hashing attack might compromise the password in under a second.
A password or passphrase like “passwordnaturecoupon,” on the other hand, consists of three totally unrelated terms and is twenty characters long. According to the Password Strength Test, an unrestricted online attack would need four years to successfully crack that passcode. If you add an uppercase letter, a number, and a special character to your password, say ”passwordNature-coupon2!” it would take years for the same attack to crack it.
The first line of defense against hackers and other dangerous cybercrime efforts is strong passwords and other tests like CAPTCHAs. Never use the same password twice, not even for accounts at a lesser level. Ensure that the passwords for crucial accounts, such as your bank account or email address, are entirely random and distinct.
Keep in mind that when it comes to password security, safeguarding your email account is very crucial. Cybercriminals may reset your passwords on numerous accounts by clicking the “Forgot Password” link if your email account is compromised.
It would be quite challenging to recover the accounts as a result. Make sure the password for your email account is strong and distinctive. Additionally, as described in the section after this one, we advise you to safeguard it using two-factor authentication.
3. Whenever Possible, Enable Two-Factor Authentication
It is possible for users to enable 2FA, or two-factor authentication, on some websites, such as financial services. By asking you to verify your identity with both your password and a code, it offers an extra degree of security to your accounts.
The most popular method of sending the code is by phone, via a brief call, text, or email. While both alternatives are viable, we advise selecting 2FA through your email. If you use the required safety precautions, both ought to be safe.
However, a hacker can intercept your text messages more easily than your email. A hacker couldn’t enter the code and access the account without knowing your personal email address or mobile phone number because employing two forms of authentication shows that you are the account owner.
Furthermore, if someone tries to hack you, 2FA can serve as an alert mechanism. You’ll know someone else has tried to access your account if you receive an SMS with a code that you didn’t request.
4. Protect Your Wifi Network
You face the danger of someone connecting to your WiFi if your network is left open. They could then use it to access your data and accounts, perform cybercrimes, or worse. To make your WiFi network as safe as possible, it is advised that you change your router login and password in addition to your WiFi password.
Find your router’s IP address (popular ones are 192.168.1.254, 192.168.100.1, 192.168.0.1, 192.168.1.1, and 10.0.0.1) and type it into your browser’s address bar to get to the page where you may update your login and password.
There is a default username and password for each router, however, they are all easily guessable. Common username and password combinations are Admin/Admin, Admin/password, and Admin/1234. Make sure to apply the preceding password-creation advice when you arrive at the router’s settings page to modify the username and password to something distinct and safe.
Make sure to update your WiFi password as well to further safeguard your WiFi network. This is the password that guests will use to access your WiFi. Its complexity and uniqueness will prevent unauthorized people from accessing your network. Create a guest network to ensure the highest level of WiFi security and never share your actual WiFi password with anyone.
5. When Using Public Wifi, Use A VPN
One of the greatest ways to safeguard your online activities from hackers and other cybercriminals is by using a virtual private network, or VPN. VPNs are a type of connection that can be used on both private and public networks to increase security and privacy. Your traffic will be secure since they encrypt it from the connection point to the connecting server.
When browsing the internet, they can also obscure your public IP, hiding users’ online identities. You may use many VPN services to protect your accounts while on the road by downloading the corresponding apps from the app store on your mobile device.
If you need to access a free or public WiFi network, VPNs are very useful. These networks are accessible and open to interception, which allows for traffic monitoring and online criminal activity. An IP address change provided by a VPN shields you from the dangers of free WiFi.
6. Protect Online Accounts From Infection By Installing Antivirus Software
Every Internet user must have a reliable antivirus program. No matter how much time you spend online, malware and viruses pose a risk. They have the power to destroy entire computer networks, and frequently users aren’t even aware they’ve downloaded them.
Malware can harm your computer and online accounts in various ways. Trojan horses, for instance, are capable of stealing data you enter online, such as your passwords and credit card details. Viruses can gather sensitive data stored in files.
Malware prevention is far simpler than malware removal. Your online accounts will be well-protected if you use a reputable antivirus program. Make sure the program is updated, and run updates as requested. This guarantees that problems will be detected by your antivirus program before they cause any actual harm.
7. Frequently Change Your Passwords
It’s a good idea to update your passwords every few months, even if you have strong passwords in place. You can alter them no less frequently than once per year for less significant accounts. Your online account security is improved and the risk of account exposure is decreased when you change your passwords frequently.
Use a password generator to generate secure passwords for your accounts if you have trouble coming up with your own. Your chance of falling victim to identity theft or data breaches increases if you consistently use weak passwords. Enter your email into the Data Breach Tool if you’ve been using your passwords for a while to make sure you haven’t already been your information is leaked or not.
8. Track Your Passwords Using A Password Manager
Consider utilizing a password manager to secure your online accounts if changing your passwords and establishing new ones frequently becomes difficult. Your login credentials for all of your active online accounts are stored securely in password managers, which function something like a vault. You’ll only need to keep in mind the master password for the password manager you decide to use, not dozens of different passwords and login information.
Additionally, a lot of password managers, including RoboForm, include password generators that can automatically fill and save passwords for new accounts. It will be worthwhile to invest in the password protection that a password manager offers if you want your online accounts to be as secure as possible.
Conclusion:
At last, All of your major online accounts will share many security features; you simply need to know where to look for them and how to enable them. Generally speaking, select lengthy, robust passwords, select distinct ones for each account, and update them frequently… use a password manager if memorizing that many passwords seem like too much work. This password-selection advice is also a useful tool.
In connection with that, creating your own account on your computer, browser, or tablet is highly recommended if you want to prevent unauthorized access to your crucial accounts. Although we’re not claiming that your child or flatmate is actively attempting to hack into your Facebook, it’s always advisable to restrict access as much as possible from a security standpoint.
FAQs:
How Do Hackers Get Personal Information?
Hackers create malicious apps that can siphon personal information from your device when you download or use the apps. Cybercriminals set up fake public Wi-Fi networks to lure and redirect people to malicious websites where they can steal personal information.
What Is The Strongest Protection For Your Online Accounts?
The key to online security is protecting your account with a strong secondary measure, typically a single-use code. This is referred to as “two-factor authentication,” or 2FA, as the nerds know it.
How Do Hackers See Your Password?
Malware on your computer
With the help of a kind of spyware known as a keylogger program, you are tracked while typing on the infected device. By recording your keystrokes, the hacker can steal your passwords and other sensitive data and use it to access your accounts, including email, social media, and online banking.
What Passwords Do Hackers Use?
Most hackable passwords
Second came “123456” followed by the slightly longer “123456789.” Rounding out the top five were “guest” and “qwerty.” Most of those log-ins can be cracked in less than a second.
Can A Hacker See Your Screen?
Can a hacker access my computer camera, microphone, and screen? Yes. Cybercriminals use malware like spyware to remotely access and control your camera, microphone, and screen. In fact, malicious actors often use camera and microphone recordings to blackmail people.
Which Password Would Be Best For Online Accounts?
Use a mix of alphabetical and numeric, a mixture of upper and lowercase, and special characters when creating your unique passphrase. Use unique passwords or passphrases: You should have a unique password for each of your accounts. This way, if one of your accounts is compromised, your other accounts remain secure.
