Hey Listies,
I’m taking a short break from my weekly Facebook Live UX Audits because adulting is kicking my a$$ right now.
March, as I expected, was totally overwhelming.
I woke up every day feeling stressed and in some ways, paralyzed when it came to doing important things for my business. I’m really looking forward to April, where I hope to enjoy the benefits of all the hard work that happened in March (and get back at it with my goals for The Blogsmith!).
The good news? My fiancé and I are in the late stages of securing a wedding venue and closing on our house.
I’ll share more details with you all once everything is absolutely set in stone. ;)
In the meantime, let’s take a moment to talk about cybersecurity.
In the past, I’ve addressed some of the best ways to protect your website from security issues with my
WordPress Security Checklist — check out the shiny new
infographic and the
1 page PDF download I’ve added since it’s initial publication.
But website security aside, how can you protect your personal information online? Here are a few things that have helped me:
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Use a password management tool like LastPass. LastPass auto-fills information on browsers where you’re logged in but encrypts this data on the backend. This makes it possible to share login information with other people without them ever seeing the actual username/password combo. You can also revoke access to other users at any time. LastPass can auto-generate passwords for new accounts based on security best practices to further reduce the chance of someone breaking into your account.
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Sign up for the free service, Have I Been Pwned. It sends you email notifications if your information is implicated in a data breach, alongside details regarding where the data came from and what specific data hackers have access to.
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Enable two-factor authentication. You can do this on the WordPress login area but also on personal accounts for banking, shopping, and more. This makes it so that even if a hacker has your login information, they can’t actually access your account. Two-factor authentication requires you to download a free app like Authenticator, which generates quickly expiring access codes only visible on your mobile device. I’m also a fan of biometric authentication methods, like Apple’s Face ID (though I prefer their old thumb print access method — Face ID is so buggy).
With new hacks happening at an accelerated rate, and increasingly more sensitive information up for grabs, you owe it to yourself to create some protective barriers.
What would you add to this list of best practices?
xoxo,
Maddy Osman, The Blogsmith