In 2021 hackers targeted over 40% of small businesses*, and we’re noticing more and more people are talking about getting hacked. Everyone has a story.
As my kids would say ‘it’s normal now’ (this is 2022 dontcha know!). And if you work in tech, you’ll agree with my kids.
2022 has seen record levels of hacking, businesses being held ransom, people losing access to their social media accounts, and websites.
So do we need to accept this is the new normal, a new type of warfare?
No we don’t!
There are lots of ways you can protect your accounts, but if you’re going to start somewhere you’ll want to start with 2FA. You can use it for social media, emails, banking, website access…. It’s simple to use and it’s free.
When you log in to your account, you enter your username and password as usual, but then another box pops up asking you to enter your 6-digit code. You’ll open the authenticator app on your phone, select the account you’re login in to and the app will generate the code. Simple. The good news is you use the same authenticator app for all your accounts.
Your computer could be hacked tomorrow, and those hackers could harvest all your usernames and passwords, but if they don’t have access to your phone then they can’t get that 2FA code.
Google Authenticator and Auhty (by Twillo) and widely considered the best authenticator apps out there. Both are simple to download and set up and both can link to multiple accounts.
If you’re worried you might lose your phone and end up not being able to access your accounts, don’t worry. Each time you register a new account you’re given back up codes to use if you need to manually access your account. Just remember not to save these to your computer!
AND, you can sync your account with another phone, so a colleague or friend could also be a back-up option.
We want to protect our clients’ accounts so ask all our clients who have admin access to their website to use 2FA. If you need a hand setting it up, please let us know.
