3 Simple Steps To Make Your Files Hack-Proof

The three simple tips will go a long way toward helping you avoid having a hacker rifling through your files.

There’s no hiding from being hacked. Being everything is vulnerable, and if you haven’t been personally affected by a data violation still, you will. However, while you can’t ever protect yourself 100 percent from malicious data theft so you can at least put a better lock on your door than the one your neighbor has.

1. Do Not Use the Same Password Multiple Places

Password reuse is a huge problem because when one service has a breach, people rush to try the exposed passwords on other sites, in particular, email, social media, and banking. So don’t reuse passwords on multiple places. If you use that makes you only as secure as the most vulnerable target. And also the same thing goes for your clever password schemes.

2. Use a Password Manager

1Password, Dashlane, Keeper and LastPass will be the right choice for your password manager. A good password manager will help you create and manage strong passwords that you can use to log in from the Web or your mobile device. All you will ever need to know is the master password. The rest of your passwords will be encrypted, and can only be unlocked by that master password. And also you can use a password manager to both generate and track new passwords as well as to perform a password audit of your existing ones.

3. Set Up Two-Factor Authentication

Two-factor authentication means that when someone tries to log into an account from a new location (different computer or different mobile device or whatever) they also have to enter a code that’s sent to a trusted device. This typically means that you’ll get some sort of text message with a six-digit number you have to enter if you want to like log into Facebook from a computer in the library (bad idea!) or reset the password on your Google account. You should know about two-factor is that once you have it set up, it’s generally an easy process. You will rarely have to actually use it. It’s often a set it and forget it operation.

If your bank, online data storage provider and email provider doesn’t offer two factor authentication, find a different one that does.